
COPYKiGUl UiU-V^V 



SKETCHES 

OF MY OWN TIMES 



y 






SKETCHES 



OF MY OWN TIMES 



By 
DAVID TURPIE 




INDIANAPOLIS 

THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 



Copyright, 1903 
The Bobbs-Merrill Company 

December 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

DEC 24 1903 

« Copyfight Entry 

CLASS OU ' XXe. No 

' COPY 8 






CONTENTS 



CHAPTER ONP: 

Page 

In the Forest Primeval — The Homestead— The Garden — The 
Double Log Cabin— The Baptist Monthly Meeting— The 
Seimon or Discourse and What Followed It i 



CHAPTER TWO 

Life in the Backwoods Seventy Years Ago — The Wind-Fall — 
Make-Beliefs — Wild Fruit and Flowers— The High Woods 
—The Home School— The Grist-Mill 13 



CHAPTER THREE 

The Harvest— The Harvest Dinner— The Stubble-Call— Holi- 
days — Christmas and New Year — The Sang-Hunt — Elec- 
tion Returns — The General Muster — The Seamstress and 
the Shoemaker — Interstate Commerce — Products and 
Customs of the South — The Keel and Fiat-Boat — Roads 
and Highways — The War of the Roses 24 

CHAPTER FOUR 

The Corn Crop — Tlie Show — Expansion of the Frontier — The 

Founders of Indiana 42 

CHAPTER FIVE 

School-Days — Senator Albert S.White — His Speech at the 
Whig Meeting in 1840 — Whig Mass-Meeting at the Battle- 
ground — College Course — Vacation Work on the Farm — 
The Mexican War — The Old Town and the New 57 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER SIX 

Pa(;e 

The Schoolmaster — ^ Boarding Round — Spelling, Reading, 
Writing and Ciphering — The Society of Debtor and Cred- 
itor — Law Studies — Admission to the Bar — Towns of 
Indiana in 1849 — A Typical County-Town — The Old 
Squire — William M. Kenton 74 

CHAPTER SEVEN 

Law Practice — Jury Trial in the Pmbate Court — Albert S. 
White— Joseph G. Marshall— Rufus A. Lockwood— The 
Camp-Meeting— Election to the Legislature— The Grand 
Prairie and the Blue-Stem— The Prairie Fire— The Need- 
Burn — The Prairie Fire-Brigade 97 

CHAPTER EIGHT 

The Farmer on the Prairie— The Prairie Grove Homestead — 
Senator Pettit— Mr. Justice Blackford— The General As- 
sembly of 1853 116 

CHAPTER NINE 

Service in the General Assembly of 1853— The Bench and Bar 
of Fifty Years Ago — Law, Latin and Legal Maxims — 
Joseph A. Wright— John A. Wilstach— George W. Ewing 
—Albert G. Sloo — Mr. Justice Worden 135 

CHAPTER TEN 

I'ulitical Campaign of 1854— Campaign of 1856— Ashbel P. 
Willard— Democratic Mass-Meeting at the Tippecanoe 
Battle-Ground — General Lewis Cass of Michigan — The 
Prophet's Town — Election to the Legislature in 1858— A 
Contested Senatorial Election — Doctor Graham N. Fitch 
— Doctor John W. Davis 153 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER ELEVEN 

Page 

The Uemocratic State Convention of i860 — Canvass for Lieu- 
tenant-Governor with Oliver P. Morton — The War of the 
Rebellion in 1861 — War Meetings and Measures — Canvass 
for Congress in 1862 Against Schuyler Colfax 183 

CHAPTER TWELVE 

The Senatorial Election of 1863 — Senator Lane — Albert S. 
White — President Lincoln — Chief Justice Taney— Uemo- 
cratic State Convention of 1864— Gen. Mahlon D. Manson 
— Second Race for Congress Against Mr. Colfax — Third 
Race for Congress Against Colfax, His Success and Sub- 
sequent Election to the Vice-Presidency 199 

CHAPTER THH'ITEEN 

Indiana Statesmen at Washington in 1869-70 — Senator Pratt — 
Colfax and Morton — Canvass of 1872 — The County of 
Brown — James S. Hester — Election of Mr. Hendricks to 
the Governorship. 214 

CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

Election to the Legislature in 1874 — Joseph E. McDonald — 
Thomas A. Hendricks — Benjamin Harrison — Last Fugi- 
tive Slave Case in Indiana — Mr. Justice Davis — Judge 
Walter Q. Gresham — Campaign of 1876 — Antecedents of 
the Campaign — Prior Course of Political Debate — Candi- 
dacy of Samuel J. Tilden — Gov. James D. Williams 232 

CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

Revision of the Statutes of Indiana, 1879 — James S. Frazer — 
County and Township Government — Campaign of 1880 — 
William H. English — William S. Holman — Disappearance 
of Ancient Customs and Institutions — Exit of the Camp- 
Meeting and Joint Discussion 251 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

Page 

Fourtli of July, 1881 — Assassination of President Garfield — 
Independence Day at Kentland — The Declaration and 
Ordinance of 1787— Articles of Compact — The Centennial 
of 1916 — Rural and City Government — Internal Growth 
and Development of the State — Campaign of 1886 — The 
Off Year — Senatorial Election of 1887 — The Dependent 
Pension Bill 267 

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 

Canvass of i8g2 — The Stump Speech — Comparison of the 

Speech and Press 289 

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 

In the Senate of the United States — Session of 1894 — The ' 
Nicaragua Canal Bill — The Constitution of the United 
States 304 

CHAPTER NINETEEN 

Third Election to the Senate — Governor Claude Matthews — 
Election of United States Senators by the People — Cam- 
paign of 1894 — Daniel W. Voorhees — Campaign of 1896 — 
Party Schisms— Those of 1848, i860 and 1896 329 

CHAPTER TWENTY 

In the Senate, 1896-1898 — The Republics of Cuba and Brazil — 
Foreign Relations — Cushman K. Davis — The European 
Family Compact — The American Compact — Italy and the 
Latin Races — Robert Dale Owen — The Doctrine of Monroe 348 

CHAPTI'.R TWENTY-ONE 

Campaign of 1898 — Ancient Worthies of the Hustings in In- 
diana — Tilghman A. Howard— His Career and Character 378 



SKETCHES 

OF MY OWN TIMES 



Sketches of My Own Times 



CHAPTER ONE 

IN THE FOREST PRIMEVAL THE HOMESTEAD THE 

GARDEN THE DOUBLE LOG CABIN THE BAPTIST 

MONTHLY MEETING THE SERMON OR DISCOURSE 

AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT 

The recollections of my boyhood all gather round a 
log cabin which stood in the early thirties on the south 
bank of a small stream. This branch ran west from 
our place for about two miles, to a point where it en- 
tered into Sugar Creek — whence the waters of both 
flowed together until they fell into the Wabash River 
on its eastern side, a short distance below the old town 
of Americus. The cabin had been completed but a few 
days when we moved into it, and was built upon a tract 
purchased by my father, at the public land-office in 
Crawfordsville some years before. Our new dwelling- 
was made of rough logs, laid up in the bark, and cov- 
ered with clapboards. These clapboards, well laid, 
make a better protection against rain and snow than the 
common shingles, which were used, at that time, very 
little in the country. The clapboards were riven from 

I 



/ 



2 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

oak blocks with the frow, and shaven smooth on the 
upper side with the drawing-knife. 

The floors were made of puncheons — large slabs of 
hard wood, three feet wide, three or four inches thick, 
with a length of five or six feet ; these were split from 
blocks of the proper length and smoothed on the up- 
per side with the adze. The puncheons did not rest 
on the ground, but on pieces of timber called string- 
ers or sleepers, which were scjuared, leveled on the 
upper side, and joined into the lower logs of the house 
a little above the surface. The floor of the loft or attic- 
story of the main house was of sawed plank, closely 
joined together at the edges. The doors and windows 
were fitted into their places in the wooden walls more 
neatly than one would now suppose it could be done 
with such materials. The cracks between the logs and 
around the frames of the different openings were 
chinked, that is, filled with small pieces of wood fas- 
tened with wedges or nails, and then carefully plas- 
tered with clay until the crevices were closed. 

The chimney and fireplace were prominent features 
and were of large dimensions. A man might enter 
the chimney from the hearth with slight stooping. 
The hearth and the bottom of the fireplace were of 
beaten clay tamped down heavily with the maul. The 
front of the fireplace was ten feet wide, the back six 
feet; the fore-stick and backlog of the winter fire 
were of corresponding size and length. The chim- 
ney was built of split laths and clay-plaster, both spe- 
cially prepared for the purpose. Our chimney was de- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3 

signed and built by an artist, then called a chimney- 
witch, one quite noted in the settlement, who had made 
it his study from long experience to determine just how 
the flue should be framed and shaped so as to draw all 
the smoke upward and yet allow the heat to be thrown 
forward into the room. It was not every one who could 
make a good cat-and-day chimney, so called for the 
reason that in the first settlement of the country, the 
down or fuzz of the cattail flag was used in mixing 
the clay mortar with which it was plastered, both in- 
side and out. 

It was surprising how these primitive structures 
withstood the action of fire. I remember seeing, from 
time to time, the charred remains of log cabins, de- 
stroyed by the flames, among the ruins of which stood 
erect the cat-and-clay chimney. 

Our cabin was divided on the ground floor by a close 
wooden partition, in which a door was hung, opening 
into a bed-room, lighted by a window in the west. The 
east end of the building was occupied by a large apart- 
ment called the sitting-room, that had a back and front 
door nearly opposite each other ; it contained the man- 
tel and cliimney, and was lighted by a front window in 
the south. The loft or upper story was low ; a man 
might stand erect in the middle of it, but at the sides 
not without stooping. It was divided by a parti- 
tion like the room below. In the west end was the 
spare bed and guest-room. In the east end of the 
loft the boys of the family slept. Our dormitory had a 
small window in it near the southeast corner, which we 



4 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

named Wake iip, because when the first light of the 
dawn appeared there, we were called and it was time 
to rise. 

The kitchen was a lean-to, on the back or north side 
of the house at the west end. with a door in its east side 
and a window opposite. It was built, roofed, and 
floored like the cabin, but the story was lower. The 
kitchen-hearth and chimney were large and wide. The 
bright tin reflector for baking, the spit for roasting, the 
iron crane with its accompaniment of kettles, and the 
spider constituted the furniture of the kitchen, and al- 
though its utensils were not so numerous as at present 
they were well adapted to their several uses. We often 
spent a winter evening in the kitchen, and were amused 
with the concert of the crickets on the hearth. Their 
notes were clear and cheerful, not loud, — we listened 
to hear them. This fireside music gave a very quiet 
and homelike presence to the scene. ■ But the stove, the 
range, the furnace, and the register have long ago ban- 
ished the romance of the hearth, and these minstrels of 
the ingle-nook have since disappeared from our homes. 

The well was in the L or angle made by the house 
and kitchen, some distance from either. It had been 
dug and curbed before the house was built, my father 
being determined to have the certainty of a good 
supply of water before other improvements were 
made. The water was excellent, and was drawn by 
means of a sweep. The bucket was of oak, iron-bound 
but not moss-covered. My mother was well a-c- 
quainted with the pretty stanzas of Woodworth's con- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 5 

cerning the "scenes of my childhood." Nevertheless 
the bucket was scoured and kept scrupulously clean. 
She said that although the moss-covered bucket might 
be a very picturesque idea in a poem, yet in the plain 
prose life we were leading it was better to have the 
bucket without the covering. 

Our house stood upon the shoulder of a bluff or 
small hill, which rose perhaps twenty feet above the 
level of the waters in the creek, and sloped down gently 
toward the north to the edge of the stream. Toward 
the east the hill ran down a short way to a little hollow 
or ravine, and just across this hollow were the stable 
and other out-buildings of the farm. The house and 
barn-lot being inclosed by separate fences, stood apart 
and left an open lane down to the creek or branch, as 
we called it, by which the horses and cattle went for 
water. About forty acres of the land had been cleared 
and made ready for the plow, but the dwelling and 
other buildings were not within the line of the main 
clearing ; it was better to have a lane between the small 
inclosures of the house and barn and the larger fields. 

Although there was no public road of any kind run- 
ning by the house, yet it was easily accessible from the 
east or w^est ; the branch made its approach from the 
north more difficult. The high woods in which we lived 
were open, singularly free from brush and under- 
growth ; you could ride on horseback or drive a wagon 
in almost any direction without meeting any obstruc- 
tion except the trees. A fallen trunk might here and 
there stop the way ; sometimes this was chopped in two, 



6 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

and the ends thrown apart so as to allow a team to pass 
between them, but oftener we drove around the log 
rather than cut it. 

Our house-yard and garden contained about an 
acre, which was inclosed by rough split pickets or 
palings. The garden was soon plowed, harrowed and 
planted with the ordinary vegetables. Their growth 
in this virgin soil was rapid and luxuriant, especially 
that of the vines. These had been planted by way of 
precaution close to the western boundary of the gar- 
den. They ran riot toward the latter part of the sea- 
son ; they climbed over the fence, spread away be- 
yond it, and cucumbers, gourds and squashes hung 
upon the palings outside. Besides the vines and vege- 
tables, my mother had a bed in the garden, prepared 
under her own eye, which she called the health-plot. 
Here were found such old-fashioned herbs as sage, 
mint, rue, cummin, lavender, anise, thyme and basil — 
each in its own row. The more hardy herbs, the hoar- 
hound, catnip, tansy and horseradish, were banished 
to the fence corners. The earth was not disturbed at all 
near the cabin. Nothing grew around the house ex- 
cept the grass, which was kept short by tlie scythe. The 
house-lot being cleared of weeds and brambles was 
soon covered by a turf of bluegrass, which seemed in- 
digenous to the soil. 

There were no flowers in the garden. The ready 
bloomers, such as the sunflower, the ragged sailor, atid 
the hollyhocks were planted round the well, not too 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 7 

close to it, where they grew tall, flowered profusely, 
and in summer made a gaily colored screen for the curb 
and the iron-bound bucket. The choice flowers were 
planted in a bed made in the front yard. Here grew 
pansies, pinks, marigolds, four-o'clocks, touch-me-nots, 
the larkspur, with the blood-red poppy and the peony. 
It is not likely that many of these old plants and flow- 
ers may be found in our modern gardens or conserva- 
tories, but they may all be found in Shakespeare, Mil- 
ton or Isaac Walton. They are Anglo-Saxon classics. 
They have now become exotics, not of another clime, 
but of a former age. Yet their very names are redolent 
of the mother-tongue, and since they were strangers in 
the new place where we settled, they deserve the cour- 
tesy of mention. 

I was acquainted, several years ago, with a gentle- 
man of wealth and leisure who had undertaken the 
project of making a Shakespeare park or garden, which 
should contain growing specimens of all the trees, 
plants, shrubs and flowers, mentioned in the works of 
the poet. But he found, upon consideration, that the 
poet's plant-zone was too extensive and varied to be re- 
produced in our climate. He then determined to com- 
pile an herbarium after the same design. When I saw 
this, the last time, it had reached the compass of three 
volumes. Each page of the book held one specimen, a 
mounted flower or leaf. Above it was the name, below 
was a copy of the line or verse, in which the name ap- 
peared, with a reference to the act and scene of the 



8 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

drama in which it occurred. The volumes were ele- 
gantly bound, numbered and lettered "Beauties of 
Shakespeare." 

Our cabin with its lawn and garden, in the familiar 
patois of the country-side, was a riglit likely place. 
We learned to like it very much. There were, however, 
in the settlement several better places than ours — 
others not so good. In those days the cabin of the set- 
tler was sometimes built in the woods, with the trees 
standing all round it, uninclosed ; the melon and truck- 
patch were in the rear, protected by a brush fence. 

Then again you might find another cabin in the cor- 
ner of a field, thus inclosed but kept otherwise without 
much attention to its surroundings, weeds and bram- 
bles growing close up to the doors and windows, and 
in the outside corners of the cat-and-clay chimney. 
Sometimes the cabin stood in the middle of the field; 
and the owner would tell you that he had placed it there 
because he wanted to live close to his work. The corn- 
rows ran up nearly to the house, and in the late sum- 
mer entirely concealed it from view; the foot-traveler 
might pass the place many times without seeing it, 
and if he wished to reach the house he must find the 
bars in the fence ; there he would take a well worn path 
which led through the growing corn to the door. 
These cabins were exceptional. It is not to be under- 
stood, however, that their inmates were in any way 
disparaged, forlorn or degenerate. They tilled their 
lands and gathered their crops, like their neighbors, 
and dealt with them on terms of entire equality. These 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 9 

people of the off-cabins were poor neither in spirit nor 
in goods. To use the phrase of that time, they kept 
a good house, lived in clover, and cared nothing for 
trifles. Their external appearance and surroundings 
were merely the effect of careless and contented indif- 
ference, and betokened rather the abundance of sub- 
sistence and resources than the lack of either. 

There were several double log cabins in our neigh- 
borhood. One of these was the home of a Kentuckian, 
a man of some means, who had sold his possessions in 
his native state, bought a large tract of land in our 
country, and had been living on it some years. His 
double cabin was built of hewn timber, the yard around 
it was filled with choice shrubs and fruit trees brought 
from the old settlements over the river, by which 
words he always described the country of his former 
home. The sides and ends of his house were bor- 
dered all round by a broad strip of sand and gravel. 
This kept the house dry and afforded no nesting for 
the numerous insects, winged and wingless, which in 
warm weather were troublesome. The gates and 
fences of the house-lot were of plank, its walks were 
well laid out and covered with gravel. He lived near 
Sugar Creek, sometimes called Big Sugar, and made 
good use of its long-accumulated deposits. The space 
between the two cabins in such a house was known as 
the entry, and was wide and roomy. The entry in this 
house was roofed with clapboards, and its floor was of 
clay and gravel beaten down hard and smooth. It was 
open at both ends; you could stand or sit in it, in the 



lO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

hottest day of summer, and yet feel a cool and refresh- 
ing draft of air in its shade. 

The owner of this mansion was a typical pioneer, 
stalwart and wise, full of activity and enterprise, fond 
of his farm and well skilled in its management. He 
was withal a religious man, strictly such in precept 
and practice, and, as he phrased it, of the Baptist per- 
suasion. When the Baptist minister came, as he did 
once a month, to preach in the neighborhood, the meet- 
ing was held at this house, and the double log cabin 
was a very good place for that purpose. There were 
at that time no church buildings in the country and we 
seldom went to town on Sunday. The crowd assem- 
bled at the house named at the time appointed, of which 
notice had been given. The preacher took his place 
in the middle of the entry ; before him was set a small 
stand on which lay his Bible and hymn-book. The 
women were seated in the rooms on one side of the 
entry, the windows and doors being open, and the 
men in the same way on the other side. Separate 
_seaj:ing of the sexes at church was rigidly observed at 
the time, and indeed for many years afterward, both 
in town and country. All the children sat together 
in the entry just in front of the minister, but one or 
two of the elders sat with them as monitors. 

Service began by reading a chapter, followed by 
prayer. The hymn was then lined out, and a person 
somewhat acquainted with music led in the singing; 
the audience joined in with vigor and evident satisfac- 
tion. The parts, bass and treble, were carried in the ex- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES II 

ercise, for the winter singing-school was ah'eady an es- 
tabhshed institution and the singing-master a weU 
known pubhc character. Then came the reading of the 
text and the sermon, or, as it was more commonly 
called, the discourse, which lasted always an hour, 
sometimes longer. 

During the whole service there was the utmost de- 
corum, no chatting either aloud or in undertone ; even 
whispering was regarded such a breach of good man- 
ners that it seldom occurred. The discourse was lis- 
tened to with special interest. The service was plain ; 
the place where it was held abounded in flowers, but 
there was no bouquet on the preacher's stand, none 
on his person, nor were any flowers worn by the 
hearers. This extreme simplicity in religious exer- 
cise was not due to any lack of respect or regard; it 
was rather due to an excess of reverence for the sacred 
character of the time and place — an over-anxiety to 
avoid anything which might even appear to be out of 
harmony with the propriety of the occasion. Rever- 
ence seemed to be a natural trait of the hardy back- 
woodsmen — it fitted them like a garment and was 
deeply imprinted upon the hearts and minds of their 
children. 

At the close of the sermon another hymn was 
sung, followed by a brief prayer and benediction. 
As soon as meeting broke, to use the vernacular of 
those days, the people crowded round the minister to 
exchange greetings ; many also shook hands with their 
host, thanking him for the opportunity of hearing the 



12 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Word, and hoping that the family had not been too 
much put out by the presence of such a large congre- 
gation. The host modestly disclaimed the thanks, 
said all were more than welcome, and heartily invited 
them to come again. As the people went homeward 
they talked by the way about the meeting, the singing, 
but chiefly about the discourse, which usually became 
the theme of conversation in the neighborhood for 
many days afterward. 

It may be said they had nothing else to talk about — 
but this is error. They had the paper from the East 
with its column of news from Washington and of 
Foreign Intelligence. They had the county paper, 
the Delphi Oracle, named from a famous Greek origi- 
nal, with its local items and home articles ; they had 
grave c|uestions of early state policy, and always some 
election pending, for the sessions of the legislature 
were annual, not biennial as now. There was no 
scarcity of other topics for conversation. This pre- 
dominance of religious subjects in the ordinary social 
intercourse of those days was due to that abundance of 
the heart spoken of long ago. R.eligion had a real 
place in the daily walk and actual conduct of men. 
The Vine and the branches took a strong hold of life 
and bore fruitful clusters of Eschol in the wilderness. 



CHAPTER TWO 

LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS SEVENTY YEARS AGO THE 

WINDFALL MAKE-BELIEFS WILD FRUIT AND 

FLOWERS THE HIGH WOODS THE HOME SCHOOL 

THE GRIST-MILL 

Boy-life on the farm seventy years ago was very free 
and joyons. Even the work was Hke play while it 
lasted. After breakfast in the planting season, those 
who were old enough took their hoes, and went in 
pairs to the cornfield. One walked before and made 
a sort of bed in the plowed furrow for the corn-hill, 
the other dropped the seed-grain and covered it. The 
work of planting and tending was all done by hand 
with the hoe. Shovel-plows and cultivators, ma- 
chinery of a later date, were unknown, and the stumps 
and roots in the new ground were too numerous, 
strong and tough, to allow their use. Corn was some- 
times planted so close to the stump of a tree that it was 
hard to get enough earth to cover it, yet the hill grew 
as thriftily as others. The genial sun wrought won- 
ders in that fertile soil. We always had three, some- 
times four, stalks of corn in a hill ; they grew rank and 
tall, each bearing two, and sometimes three or four, 
full ears. 

13 



14 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

After the corn-crop was laid by for the season we 
had a long vacation. Just across the creek, north of 
the cabin, there was a windfall, a space of two or 
three acres, which some ancient hurricane had, many 
years before, swept over and cleared of trees as com-- 
pletely as if the ax had felled them. Their huge 
trunks, torn up by the roots, lay tossed and crossed on 
the ground just as they had fallen. A few young trees 
of the second growth had sprung up here and there, 
but there were many places in the windfall, quite open, 
covered with a thick turf of grass. This was the play- 
ground. A great deal of our time was spent along the 
banks of the creek, and we never tired of playing in 
its waters. We built stepping-stones across it so that 
other memljers of the household could pass over dry- 
shod; as for ourselves, we went barefoot during the 
warm weather, and ruefully greeted the latter days of 
November, when we became unwilling martyrs to 
shoes and stockings. 

Long excursions were made up and down the creek, 
and more than once we undertook a special journey of 
discovery. It was well known to us that our branch 
emptied into Sugar Creek about two miles to the west- 
ward; we wanted very much to see this place. We 
started on an expedition to this point, but some strange 
sight or sound in the dense high woods turned us home- 
ward. We were very glad as we came back to get near 
enough to catch a glimpse of the open sky over the 
clearing and the white top of our landing-post. The 
journey to our new home had been made partly by 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 5 

steamer and partly by wagon. We made believe that 
the steamer might run up the Wabash to the mouth 
of Sugar Creek, and then come up the branch past 
our place. We had set in the earth near the stepping 
.stones a post made from a young linden tree, stripped 
of its bark, as white as if it were painted, so that the 
boat might be tied up and stop a while at our land- 
ing. These make-beliefs of childhood constitute the 
elementary groundwork of all the fiction in the world, 
both in respect to readers and authors ; and although 
often wild and improbable, they are never irrational 
upon the facts supposed. So the writer of the novel 
or romance, though he is well entitled to traverse the 
whole realm of fable, must yet confine his story within 
the bounds of reason, as applied to the circumstances 
of his chosen theme and characters, else his labor is 
vain. His work will be disregarded, not because it 
is untrue in fact but because it is false to the assumed 
conditions. False fiction is detected more readily than 
false argument. The faculties of taste are less diffi- 
cult of exercise than those of the understanding. 

We spent part of the day in summer gathering wild 
fruits for the table. In the open spaces, like the wind- 
fall, they abounded. Raspberries, blackberries, dew- 
berries and plums were fine fruit ; the season closed 
with papaws in the late autumn. Every day also we 
gathered wild flowers and took them home. The 
flora of that early time was rich and varied. A bright 
scarlet lily was found in the shallow waters, and 
among the banks and braes of Little Sugar we had dis- 



l6 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

covered two or three places where the lady's-sHppers 
grew, the yellow-golden and the purple-white mocca- 
sin flower. I can see them yet, dancing in the wind 
on their graceful stems; these were great favorites. 
My mother always gave them the place of honor, the 
center of the mantel-piece. Although she decorated 
this room with cut flowers, changed from day to day, 
there was a more permanent decoration for the fire- 
place. The mantel-piece was a broad slab of wood 
fastened high up on the wall above the hearth, and 
was colored deep blue with a dye of indigo. On this 
mantel were placed two earthen crocks, filled with 
mellow mold in which were planted seeds of the morn- 
ing-glory ; the vines ran downward, covering the fire- 
place with leaves and blossoms. They were in the 
light, but always in the shade so that the blooms re- 
mained open all day and made a curtain dotted with 
red, white and blue. 

My mother had a theory that the flowers growing 
upon vines were more vivid in their hue, when the vine 
ran downward ; that more of the plant-strength thus 
went into the bloom, since none of it was needed in 
climbing. We had often noticed a wild Virginia 
creeper in the edge of the clearing, that had climbed 
thirty or forty feet to the first branch of a tree, and 
then stopping as though tired with the labor, it had 
turned and run downward, hanging from the limb. Its 
clusters of blossom were larger than usual and were 
richly colored ; they looked from a distance like some 
kind of beautiful fruit. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 7 

This flowery curtain in front of the fireplace lasted 
all summer, and far into the fall. But on a frosty 
morning late in the season, when the boys came down 
from the loft, they were surprised to see a fire lighted 
at the hearth ; the curtain of many colors had been 
rolled up like a scroll and thrown into the rear of the 
chimney to be consumed in the burning; at the same 
time we could read upon a slip of paper pinned to the 
wall these words : "The flower thereof falleth, and the 
grace of the fashion of it perisheth." 

When the fruits and flowers were all gone we com- 
menced gathering the nut crop — walnuts, butternuts, 
shellbark hickory-nuts, and the nuts of the chinkapin 
oak. The chinkapin is as edible as the chestnut and 
quite as good, though not so large. The tree is a spe- 
cies of white oak, rare even then, now seldom met with. 

In winter, part of our work was to gather and carry 
into the kitchen the finely split wood used in cooking. 
And when it was so ordered, for special use, we took 
in a lot of hickory bark, a good supply of which was 
kept in store, as choice fuel. I have since seen and 
used many kinds of fuel, but the hickory shellbark is 
by far the best. It is clean, easily handled, it kindles 
readily, it burns with little smoke, the heat is intense 
and lasting, the ash small and light. The ashes of 
the hickory bark, when nothing else was burned, were 
carefully gathered up and put away in a safe and 
dry receptacle. Afterward, during the killing season, 
the choicest hams were selected, and having been 
salted, smoked and dried, they were laid away among 



15 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

these white feathery ashes where they remained until 
March, April or sometimes much later. These were 
called hickory hams. They had a very pleasant odor, 
as well as flavor, and when sliced and served at the 
table, made so dainty a fare that the most fastidious 
gourmet who haunts the purlieus of Delmonico might 
well envy those who partook of it. The genuine 
hickory ham was seldom seen in the market; it was 
reserved for home consumption. 

Every farm had its sugar orchard, a group of ma- 
ples of large and vigorous growth. These yielded in 
the first thaw of spring a flow of water sweet and pure, 
from which were made the choicest varieties of sugar 
and syrup. 

The farm was a microcosm, a little world of its own. 
Almost everything of daily use was made or sub- 
stituted from its products — everything except salt. 
Money was scarce, and salt was dear, but salt we must 
have ; for^iat there was no substitute. 

The wild fruits, flowers and nuts which we gathered 
all had their being and growth in the forest and many 
of them have disappeared with it. The forest, or as 
we called it, the High Woods, was the dominant physi- 
cal phenomenon in our lives. It was the ever-present 
boundary of the field, the farm and the whole visual 
horizon. The clearing was a mere patch measured by 
acres, — the forest, by miles. Even in winter its dark 
giant trunks, with their overhanging branches thickly 
interlaced, inclosed us like some vast rampart built 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES IQ 

for our defense. Yet we labored day after day to de- 
stroy it. These nol^le trees, centuries old, standing 
erect as marble columns, and running from the ground 
fifty, sixty, sometimes eighty feet without a limb, 
were treated as enemies. They were split in pieces, 
they were burned, they were sawed asunder, without 
a thought of pity or regret. They furnished us with 
materials for houses, fences and fuel, and we thought 
ourselves better off the more we wasted and consumed. 

In many cases, if even a portion of the growing tim- 
ber had been saved from the ax, it would have been 
worth, in a few decades, more than the land on which 
it stood. This is not, however, the only instance in 
which supposed present necessities have frustrated the 
greater gains of the future. In these latter days, trav- 
eling in various parts of our state, I have been some- 
times invited to look at tracts of land yet covered by 
the virgin forest, but have found such places to be 
rough, or overflowed, not arable. The tafcs I saw 
were pygmies in comparison with those I recollect. 
Large trees, closely massed together, are produced only 
in rich deep soil of durable fertility. The best trees 
were found on the best land ; this was the cause, both 
of their excellence and their destruction. 

The prolonged existence of the pineries in the North 
has been somewhat due to the sterility of the soil in 
which they flourished, and they may for the same rea- 
son be replaced by a second growth. We, however, can 
not expect that the rich wheat, corn, and meadow 



20 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

lands of Indiana will ever again become forest. This 
primeval forest, like the Indian warrior who hunted in 
its shade, is gone, to return no more. 

There was but one school-house in the settlement ; 
it was used only in winter; it was four or five miles 
from our place, the weather was cold, and the way too 
long. Children were taught the rudiments of learn- 
ing at home. In summer-time there was no regular 
day set for this purpose ; we took our lessons once or 
twice a month. But in the late fall, the early spring 
and all through the winter, Thursday and Saturday 
were lesson-days in the afternoon. My mother sat at 
the end of the table, we at the sides. We learned to 
read, to write, to cipher as far as long division. The 
pens were made of goose or turkey quills, the ink 
from walnut-hulls ; it was dark brown, had a good flow, 
and our work was quite legible. 

Those of us who were old enough read in turn from 
some book taken from my father's collection. He had 
about thirty books — a large library for the time and 
place. Among these were The Pilgrim's Progress, a 
history of the United States, Weems' Life of Wash- 
ington, where the story of the cherry-tree first grew, 
the Life of Marion by the same author, an abridgment 
of Hume's English History, Cowper's Poems, and 
Robinson Crusoe. The exercise lasted about three 
hours. My mother was an excellent teacher; we all 
made fair progress, anxious to please her. On Sunday 
we read from the Bible in the same manner, either the 
Old or New Testament. She accompanied the read- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 21 

ing with explanations, plain and simple, and afterward 
asked questions to test our memory. Sometimes the 
children from a neighbor's house would join us in 
these Scripture readings and we would return their 
visit. This sort of Sunday family Bible-class was not 
uncommon in the neighborhood, nor was the home- 
school. 

Our family did not belong to the first generation 
of emigrants to Indiana. The period of their settle- 
ment was that of the early days of the grist-mill. The 
first settlers did not have these — they used only the 
hand-mill or the horse-mill, sometimes called the corn- 
cracker. Our stock of meal and flour was procured 
from mills of the old style, run by water-power. They 
were located on some of the larger streams, the Wild- 
cat or Wea, at a distance from our home. Ordinarily 
there was no trouble in getting the grist and bringing 
it home. But twice a year, during the spring floods 
or the fall drought, the waters became either too high 
or too low to grind ; these two extremes had the same 
effect — there was no flour or meal in the house or in 
the neighborhood, for we borrowed of each other un- 
til the last sack was gone. 

Of course under these circumstances there was a 
dearth — a scarcity — but it was of bread only; there 
was no famine in the land. When the boy with the 
'empty meal-sack had made his last round, we still had 
plenty of milk, meats and vegetables. Then the hom- 
iny-block was brought out from a dry place under 
cover, where it was usually kept. It was a large block 



22 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of hard wood, oak or hickory, in the upper end of 
which was a cavity shaped Hke a mortar, into which 
the shelled corn was poured, and then pounded until 
the grains were sufficiently broken, and the hominy 
was made. This viand well prepared would fully sat- 
isfy hunger — and even taste, if it were not too fastid- 
ious. When this dearth occurred in the late summer 
we resorted also to succotash — a lordly dish of Indian 
tradition and descent, wholesome and savory, tempting 
to the appetite. I have always thought that the mess 
of pottage, which cost Esau so dear, must have been 
some sort of succotash of the Orient. Furnished with 
these temporary supplies we waited until the drought 
or the flood had ceased and the mill-wheels turned 
again. 

Many praises have not unworthily been bestowed 
upon the pioneer merchants and innkeepers of Indiana, 
but surely our pioneer millers well deserve a share in 
these laudations. The pioneer miller must needs have 
been a man, adventurous, hopeful and persistent. He 
must have had some capital in money. He had to pur- 
chase his mill-seat and the land adjoining it, to build 
his dam, dig the race and put in position his wheels and 
other machinery, having first built a house large 
enough to inclose and to protect this mechanism. 
Having chosen his site and completed its improvement 
in a new settlement, where such a convenience was 
needed, customers would come, grists would be ground 
and tolls would accrue. 

But how should he dispose of his product? He 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 23 

could not sell to his customers ; they had their own sup- 
plies. The transportation by wagon to any other mar- 
ket was slow and laborious. It is probable that the 
miller's legendary golden thumb did not grow rapidly 
in our back settlements. Nevertheless our first millers 
did well in the course of time, gradually but certainly 
receiving the recompense of their earlier risks and en- 
terprise. I can see the miller of laiig syne very plainly 
yet, leaning over the open half-door in the mill en- 
trance, measuring with his eye the contents of the sacks 
as they were delivered, and chatting with his custom- 
ers about the news of the day. The grist-mill in the 
country was a well known locality. Its doors were 
garnished with notices of all kinds ; it was often the 
site of a post-office, a favorite place for holding public 
meetings, and the center of local intelligence. But all 
this is now changed. The old mill with its brush-dam, 
overshot wheel and wooden forebay is almost forgot- 
ten. Steam, that unsparing revolutionist, has swept it 
away. 



CHAPTER THREE 

THE HARVEST THE HARVEST DINNER THE STUBBLE- 
CALL HOLIDAYS CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR 

THE SANG-HUNT ELECTION RETURNS THE GEN- 
ERAL MUSTER THE SEAMSTRESS AND THE SHOE- 
MAKER INTERSTATE COMMERCE PRODUCTS AND 

CUSTOMS OF THE SOUTH THE KEEL AND FLAT-BOAT 

ROADS AND HIGHWAYS THE WAR OF THE ROSES. 

The most notable event in our rural year was the 
harvest. It was so generally known, so prominent 
and so regular in its recurrence that it was commonly 
used as a date of the calendar in conversation and the 
ordinary transactions of business. In my early prac- 
tice of the law, due-bills, bonds and promissory notes 
were often met with that were made payable in thirty, 
sixty or ninety days after harvest. And these instru- 
ments were always held valid, because, although the 
time of maturity was on their face uncertain, yet it 
could be made reasonably certain by proof otherwise. 

Harvest was the season of the great summer festival. 
It occurred in July when the wheat matured. Though 
the acreage was not very large, yet the fields ripened 
about the same time and must be cut before the grain 
became over-ripe; five or six farms united to make the 

24 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 25 

harvest- force. The work was done with the rake and 
sickle. 

The entertainment of the harvesters was somewhat 
elaborate ; it was no banquet of Barmecide. Meals 
were usually served out of doors in a long booth, cov- 
ered by green boughs. The table was bountifully sup- 
plied with substantial food, and with a dessert of 
home-made pastries lavish and toothsome. It was 
waited upon by the women, boys and girls of the 
neighborhood, who, after the harvesters had eaten, sat 
down to a like repast. Conversation was free and 
lively, but at these primitive harvest feasts nothing was 
said about the visible supply of grain, the disposal of 
the surplus, or the price of wheat in the market. 

The surplus of the crop was generally bartered away 
for salt and other necessaries at the county town ; 
sometimes, not often, it was hauled by wagon a long 
distance to a place on the lake or on the lower river 
and sold for money. Little money was used at har- 
vest-time. Men did not work for wages but for help 
in turn. All rejoiced together over an abundant crop, 
not from any consideration of its market value, but 
because this gave them assurance of seed for the next 
sowing, and of bread for the coming year. 

The average wheat-cutting on a single farm lasted 
two or three days. When the last shock was capped 
and finished, the rakes were all stacked around it, the 
sickles were thrust into it, the whole company of men 
and boys formed a circle, and, at a signal given by the 
captain of the reapers, they gave three cheers. We 



26 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

listened carefully for the echo in return; if it replied 
three times it was accounted a good omen for the next 
crop ; if more, yet better. 

This last ceremony was known as the stubble-call. 
The blast of a horn from the cabin was heard in an- 
swer to it and the harvest was ended. 

I do not remember that in those times any particular 
attention was paid to holidays by persons living in the 
country. The Fourth of July was regularly com- 
memorated in the towns, but it occurred in a busy 
season when we could not well leave our summer work. 
Thanksgiving Day had not yet crossed the mountains 
in much force. There was no great need of it. 
Thanks-living is better than thanks-giving. Its in- 
troduction into our state was very slow and gradual. 
The plain people of the farm did not quite apprehend 
the notion of giving thanks by order. For a long 
while it used to be called the governor's Sunday. 

Christmas and New Year's Day were noted; the 
Christmas dinner and New Year's Eve supper were 
well known festivities. The supper always ended with 
a watch-party that lasted until midnight, when blasts 
from the tin horn, heard from house to house, blew 
out the old year and blew in the new. There was no 
special observance of either of these days unless they 
fell on Sunday. Then they were kept as we kept the 
Sabbath. Our whole neighborhood and the region 
round about remembered the Sabbath day. No work 
except of the most necessary character, no hunting, 
sport or play, took place on Sunday. Sometimes the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2/ 

hay or wheat-harvest was carried on during Sabbath, 
but it was because the crop was imperiled by the 
weather. When the last day of the old year came upon 
Sabbath it was called long Sunday, as worship and 
prayer lasted until midnight, at which hour the watch- 
meeting was dismissed. 

At intervals during the season the boys on the farm 
had time granted them which we called holidays 
and enjoyed as such. Now and then during the fall 
and winter we spent the whole day in hunting. We 
went along to carry the game, and seldom returned 
without a full bag. Besides the squirrels and rabbits, 
we often took the wild turkey, the pheasant and quail. 
We never molested any of these in summer unless it 
were in actual defense of the field-crops. Three days 
during the season were always given us to find and 
gather sang. In these excursions we were accom- 
panied by some skilled woodsman. The finding and 
digging of the ginseng-root was a wild, wandering 
quest; it required the knowledge of such a person to 
keep the points of the compass and to avoid being lost 
in the forest. Sang was a cash article in the market, 
and the proceeds of what we gathered were our own ; 
it was our pocket-money to be invested in the circus- 
ticket and other like expenses. 

Before the era of the railway and the telegraph, it 
sometimes took many days to ascertain the result of a 
presidential election. At such a time four or five boys 
of the neighborhood were sent to town, after the work 
of the day was over, to get the news. Such a party 



28 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Started and got to the county seat sometime after night- 
fall and rode immediately to the stage-office. The 
agent sat upon his high stool behind the desk ; we made 
known to him our errand. He looked at us steadily 
for a while to make sure that we were boys from the 
country, because the town boys sometimes annoyed 
him unnecessarily with such inquiries. When he was 
satisfied upon this point he would answer : "Boys, 
I'm sorry, but there was nothing on the way-bill, no 
word by the passengers, and I can not tell you how 
the election has gone.'' We then returned no wiser 
than we came, but we had enjoyed the ride, the com- 
pany and the adventures by the way. 

Our clothing was mostly home-made; the materials 
for it were spun and woven from flax and wool. The 
garments were cut out and made up at the house. This 
was the business of the sewing woman, as she was 
called. This lady was unmarried, of uncertain age, 
and lived with the family of a brother, perhaps ten 
miles away. In her calling she was deft and skilful, 
having had many years of experience in making and 
fitting, handling always the same kind of material. 
Usually she came to the house twice a year to make 
garments needed for the change of the seasons. The 
circuit of her labors among her patrons was large, 
and she was a sort of organ of communication between 
the families. She had thus great temptation to be, 
or to become, a gossip. Yet no one was ever less of 
that character. Still she was by no means morose or 
taciturn. Facts within her own knowledge were al- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 29 

ways freely spoken of; those heard from others were 
detailed in like manner, the authority being given. 
She was frank in statement, discreet in recital, chary 
of opinion, and joined in no contumely, — a woman of 
such studied tact and judgment that, moving in a 
sphere more notable, she would have acquired distinc- 
tion from these qualities. 

The children of the house soon became attached to 
her. She told them stories and told them well, about 
the old Indian wars, about the ghosts and the fairies ; 
but these last always with such a quiet smile and look 
of incredulity as to undeceive her hearers ; for there 
was a religious cast of mind in her whole conduct and 
conversation — a regard for truth not to be tampered 
with. 

The shoemaker lived in the neighborhood and came 
to our place once a year to make or mend what was 
needed. His sons were well grown and did the work 
on the farm while he wrought at his trade. He was 
a small man, a little past middle age, cheerful and very 
talkative, but devoid of any sort of malice. The shoe- 
maker was one of the oldest Hoosiers I ever met. He 
had come here when a small boy. with his father's 
family, about 1795; they had first settled in the 
southern part of the covuitry, before Indiana was 
known as a state or territory. He was, in the vernacu- 
lar of those days, a great Scriptorian. Without stop- 
ping in his work he held good-humored, though ani- 
mated conversations with my father about the meaning 
of certain texts and the best methods of Bible-livino-. 



30 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

We were much interested in some of the accounts he 
gave of his youth and boyhood. The Indians then 
were numerous and dangerous. The people of the 
settlement where he had first lived had a large block- 
house built like a fort, with a stockade round it, where 
they took refuge against these enemies. Here fifteen 
or twenty families lived together sometimes for weeks. 
They usually had provisions to stand a siege of some 
length, but although the blockhouse was near a stream 
they often suffered for want of water. Once, as he 
told us, the Indians had surrounded them in force for 
several days and the people suffered from thirst. Par- 
ties of white men had gone out with buckets toward 
the stream, but the Indians lying in wait under cover 
had fired upon and wounded them, and had driven the 
watermen away. A woman bravely ventured out, 
ran to the stream, filled her pail, and was returning 
when a bullet struck it out of her hand, though she 
reached the fort safely. That same day, in the after- 
noon, there came suddenly a high wind and a heavy 
fall of rain. The men were on duty at their posts, 
but the women and children of the little garrison 
caught the rain-water in all sorts of vessels at hand and 
thus secured an abundant supply. He always spoke of 
this as a Providential intervention ; the people believed 
that Heaven had aided them in their necessity. 

In this way we learned that our first settlers met 
perils and privations in their time of which we had no 
conception, except as they were related by those who 
had survived them. 



I 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3 1 

The general muster was a meeting at the connty 
town of the militia of the county for the purpose of 
instruction in battalion and brigade drill and other 
manoeuvers. It was held in the late summer-time, after 
the crops had been laid by. All persons subject to 
military duty were notified to attend and take their 
places in the companies and regiments to which they 
had been assigned. There was always a large number 
of spectators. The militiamen were not uniformed, 
but usually came in their ordinary clothing; their 
weapons were of no particular pattern — rifles, shot- 
guns, yagers, carbines and muskets — with which they 
went through the manual of arms. 

This military force has been sometimes called the 
cornstalk iiiilifia. I never saw any of the men carry- 
ing cornstalks for weapons. Some of them wore corn- 
tassels in their hats or caps; this may have given 
rise to that sobriquet. Of course such a motley array 
presented, either at rest or on the march, an untoward 
and disorderly appearance. It brought to mind Fal- 
staff's review of his recruits: "Well, I'll not march 
through Coventry with them, that's flat." 

The crowd of spectators chaffed the soldiery in a 
friendly but humorous style. Some of the older men 
among the bystanders, who had seen actual service, 
joined in the sport and criticized the awkward gait and 
movement of those in the ranks. It was evident that 
this form of military service was fast going to decay. 
The last time I recollect seeing these exercises, all the 
companies and regiments of the brigade were marched 



32 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

into a large field, where, either from some error in the 
commanding officer or from some misunderstanding, 
the whole body became mingled together in such in- 
extricable confusion that we heard the captains order 
the men to take to the fence, which they climbed over, 
formed on the outside and went to headquarters 
where they disbanded. As no rations were fur- 
nished, a very vigorous assault was made, after pa- 
rade drill, upon the booths and wagons provided with 
refreshments. These hungry warriors were, however, 
quite peaceable; no violence occurred; each provided 
his own commissary, purchased his meal and com- 
menced his journey homeward. 

Before I had attained the military age the general 
muster had fallen into disuse, and has long since be- 
come only a quiet tradition of the past. 

Several of our neighbors had made the journey 
down the river. Flat-boats were built at the towns 
or landings on the Wabash, loaded with beef, pork, 
meal, flour, and other staple products, and thence 
floated down the Mississippi to the great southern 
mart of New Orleans. These vessels, which were 
made large and stanch, usually went in fleets of eight 
or ten together, the crews being taken from the neigh- 
borhood in which they were built and launched. They 
started on this voyage generally in the early spring; 
sometimes they waited for the June rise, or occasion- 
ally they left home in the fall. The voyage lasted six 
weeks. 

When the boat and its cargo liad been sold the crew 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 33 

returned by steamer to their homes in the North, 
though the old river-men, before the time of steam 
navigation, made the return on foot. These river- 
men, as they were called, brought us strange ac- 
counts of the countries in the far South. They told 
us of the magnolia, the cypress, the live-oak, of the 
fields of cane and cotton, and of the large and popu- 
lous plantations which they visited on their route, 
where the overseer would buy almost a whole boat-load 
of supplies. They had seen also the negro slaves, men 
and women, working on the plantations, and the guards 
armed with guns and whips, who watched the hands 
at their labor .\ They told us, in an undertone, that this 
was very hard to look at; that it was all wrong, but 
that the law allowed these things. Such was the anti- 
slavery sentiment in its origin — in its infancy, faint 
and feeble, yet earnest. 

The river-men brought home with their earnings 
specimens of southern produgts, dry twigs and leaves 
of the evergreen oak, Spanish moss, joints of the 
sugar-cane and stalks of the cotton plant, with the boll 
and blossom. One of the river-sailors had brought 
home with him some seeds of the tomato. He gave 
a few of these to his acquaintances in the settlement. 
They were planted and grew thriftily. We had one or 
two plants in the garden. The fruit was beautiful to 
look at, but it was used only for ornament, like the 
fractured ware of Goldsmith's frugal housewife : 

And broken teacups wisely kept for show, 
Ranged o'er the mantel glistened in a row. 



34 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

No one thought of eating or cooking them. This old 
flat-boat man planted a large bed of tomatoes, gathered 
them as they ripened, cooked and ate them ; in fact, he 
was very fond of them. He told us the almost incred- 
ible tale that the negroes in the South ate tomatoes raw, 
and seemed to thrive on them; that the white folks 
cooked them as he did. Despite this example, the 
prejudice against the tomato continued, and it was not 
until many years after this that it came into general use 
or was found in the market. The custom of using 
this now favorite vegetable as food doubtless came to 
us very slowly up the river from the South. It is the 
only tropical plant which we have successfully culti- 
vated, and it preserves even in our climate one dis- 
tinct feature of its southern origin, since it may fre- 
quently be seen, during the season of its growth, 
bearing, like the orange, blossoms, green fruit and 
ripe, at the same time. 

The flat-boat and the keel-boat, besides their use for 
purposes of commerce, were, in the primitive days 
of the first settlers, often made use of by them as a 
means of transportation. In the fall of 1825 a party 
of five families, residing in Ross County, Ohio, desir- 
ing to move farther west, built a large flat-boat, 
launched it in the Scioto, went on board with their 
furniture and floated down that stream to the Ohio. 
Here they exchanged their flat-boat for a keel-boat, in 
which they ran down the river as far as the mouth of 
the Wabash ; thence they poled, and where the current 
was strong and swift cordelled their vessel up the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 35 

Stream to the mouth of Deer Creek ; here they landed 
and permanently settled, becoming the founders of 
that worthy community now inhabiting the county of 
Carroll. 

About the same time another group of emigrants 
from Ohio, moving westward, went shares in a flat- 
boat built near some point on the head waters of the 
Mississinewa River. There they started and ran 
down-stream until they reached the Wabash, and 
thence down to the mouth of Rock Creek, where they 
disembarked, built the first cabin and cleared and 
opened the first farm in that neighborhood. Some 
accident having happened to their craft in the course 
of their navigation, they made a landing and spent 
several days and nights on the banks of the Missis- 
sinewa near the lands of the reservation belonging to 
the Meshingomesa band of the Miami tribe of Indians, 
situated in what is now Grant County. The movers 
were hospitably entertained by the Indians of this 
band, both men and women. This particular band 
of the Miamis had always been friendly to the white 
settlers and the government. Hence they were not af- 
terward removed to the far West, but continued to oc- 
cupy and till their lands peaceably, as some of their de- 
scendants may do to this day. 

Years after this, but now long ago, I attended an 
Indian payment held not far from the confluence of 
the Wabash and the Mississinewa, near the present site 
of Peru. There was a large number of people 
present, whites, Indians, half-breeds, traders and claim- 



36 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ants ; among these were some members of the Mesh- 
ingomesa band, who, hearing that I was from the Rock 
Creek country, came to see me and made particular 
inquiries about the white people who had tied up their 
boat and spent some time with them, in the course of 
the voyage just related. These tribesmen described 
their old accjuaintances by name, and by significant 
gestures, showing that they had a clear recollection 
of the occurrence and of their former friends and 
guests. One of this party of emigrants was Mr. 
Aaron Hicks, who subsequently removed to White 
County, where he held for many years the position of 
judge of the probate court; he frequently related the 
incidents of his first journey to the far West. The 
course of this trip down the Mississinewa and the 
Wabash in the canoe or pirogue would even to-day, in 
fair weather, make a very enjoyable excursion. 

A friend of mine, not long ago, living near the Ohio 
River, wished to attend the India^rial Exposition at 
New Orleans, and had spent some time in considering 
how he should go there and where he should stay dur- 
ing his sojourn. He built a flat-boat, seaworthy and 
spacious, fitted it up with a parlor, dining-room, and 
sleeping apartments ; when finished, his family and 
himself embarked, with several ladies and gentlemen 
who accompanied them as guests, and so took their de- 
parture. They sailed leisurely down the river, stopped 
at such places as they wished to visit, reached their des- 
tination and found anchorage near the foot of Canal 
Street, within two squares of a car-line which ran to 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3/ 

the exposition grounds. They stayed as long as they 
wished, and Hved on the boat ; it was convenient, out of 
the dust and noise of the city, cool and pleasant at 
night. When the time came for their return, the boat 
and its furniture were sold at no great loss, and they 
took the train for their homes in Indiana. 

Old methods of living, long in use, will recur. In a 
later generation they may return in somewhat of dis- 
guise, but they are easily recognized. Here was a party 
of pilgrims to the South who preferred to make their 
voyage and to spend much of their time afloat — after 
the fashion of their forefathers, the flatboatmen of 
seventy years ago. 

Three rose-bushes had been planted in a group near 
the center of our front yard ; one of these was a white 
rose, the other two red. It happened that a wild rose, 
whose root had been left in the ground when it was 
cleared, sprang up very near the white rose. The wild 
rose grew rapidly, was laden with blossoms bril- 
liantly colored, and its branches overlapped and bore 
down those of the white rose, which bloomed some- 
what, but not as it should, being almost smothered by 
its more thriving neighbor. After noticing this con- 
test for some time my mother directed that the wild 
rose should be taken up and removed to a rather rough 
part of the garden, which she called Galilee of the Gen- 
tiles, where it continued to flourish with unstinted 
vigor for many years. The white rose, released from 
the struggle with its former antagonist, budded and 
flowered in great beauty, and grew so strong that its 



7 



38 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

stems crowded around and clambered over those of the 
two red roses, so that they were ahnost completely hid- 
den. They hardly brought half their buds to perfec- 
tion, and seemed to be deteriorating. Then my mother, 
saying that cousins so near each other seldom agreed, 
bade us transplant the white rose to another place in 
the yard, where it did well and flowered abundantly, 
as if gratified with its removal. The red roses also 
grew better and more thriftily; all became trim lady- 
like looking shrubs, and with their bright tints and 
large blooms made handsome our home in the back- 
woods. 

Thus peace, tranquil and unbroken, was established 
in the family of the roses. We called this contest, while 
it lasted, the War of the Roses. It resembled, in one 
respect, at least, that described in the pages of Hume's 
history, both parties in cold weather retiring into win- 
ter quarters, the active campaign between the com- 
batants taking place only in summer. 

Peace is the end of all true reform. My mother 
sought and ensured it. She often brought it about in 
her quiet way among plants as among people, reconcil- 
ing friends and kindred grown estranged, thinking it 
no burden to bestow much thought and care in these 
kindly offices. 

Our settlement on Sugar Creek was famous for 
crops, infamous for roads. The character of the soil 
was the cause of both. It was a deep, rich friable mold, 
underlaid by a heavy deposit of clay, so that when the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 39 

rains fell in summer, or when the frozen earth thawed 
in the spring, the roads became almost impassable and 
so remained for many weeks. These early roads were 
mere strips, sixty feet in width, running through the 
woods, from which the trees and fallen timber had 
been cut and removed. In the middle of the roadway, 
for ten or twelve feet, the stumps were cut low, so that 
the axletrees of the wagon might go over them with- 
out touching ; in the rest of this strip the stumps stood 
two or three feet high all along the route. There was 
no attempt at draining or embankment, except at the 
fords where the roads crossed a river or stream. As 
the forest came up to the edge of the highway, the 
heat of the sun had little chance to dry up the pools 
and ponds in the track. It is true that a pool of water 
lying in a field was soon drained away by those who 
tilled it ; but no one was much impressed with the no- 
tion that transportation was closely allied to produc- 
tion, so the pond in the state road lay untouched year 
after year. The only effort to improve the very worst 
places was by corduroy, a sort of movable bridge made 
of logs of suitable length and dimensions, which were 
laid closely together in the earth and water, and were 
kept in place by their weight. This made a very rough 
road, but it could be traveled. It received its name 
from a heavy, rib1)ed goods, then much worn for vests 
and trousers. This corded cloth had been named from 
a finer fabric manufactured in France and used in the 
hunting habiliments of the king and his suite, then 



40 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

/ called corfl'^ (/h rozV or the king's cord. Thus the royal 

wardrobe furnished a name for our primitive high- 
ways. 

The first impulse toward road improvement was 
given by the opening to navigation of the Wabash and 
Erie Canal. It began then to be realized how important 
it was to have constant and easy communication with 
the canal ports and landings. The first form that the 
improvement took was that of plank roads. This sort 
of road made an admirable thoroughfare for the trans- 
portation either of freight or passengers. For fifteen 
or twenty years it continued to be the best means of lo- 
cal travel. In the timbered portions of the state many 
corporations were organized and engaged in the con- 
struction and operation of plank roads. But this 
wooden highway was not permanent : it was much 
exposed to the weather ; it decayed rapidly and repairs 
became every year more expensive. 

The plank road movement had from these causes re- 
ceived a check and was somewhat in decline when the 
railroads touched northern Indiana. It really seemed 
for a while after this that the celerity and regularity of 
the railway, as compared with the canal, had destroyed 
the interest formerly taken by the people in their facil- 
ities for local travel, and that our future methods 
would be confined to earth roads and the iron rail. It 
was some time before the use of the gravel road or pike 
became popular or general. But as this is the best road 
yet made for local travel and the carriage of commodi- 
ties, so it is the most permanent. Drainage always 



I 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 4I 

accompanies it, good bridges and approaches are nec- 
essary for its successful operation. The region about 
which I am v/riting is traversed in all directions by ex- 
cellent gravel roads, and even the cross-roads are piked. 
It would ill become one who lives in this first decade 
of the twentieth century to conclude that we must now 
come to a dead stop at what we may deem the highest 
state of development in the science of locomotion. 
Before the close of the next century many improve- 
ments will be made both in. roads and vehicles. All 
the instrumentalities now in use will seem clumsy, 
cumbersome and unwieldy. The immense dead weight 
of the engine, its boiler, trucks and tender will disap- 
pear. A motor will draw the train not burdened by 
carrying the materials that generate its power. Cars 
and coaches will be much lighter, more portable and 
more secure. Steam will be employed only in special 
places and in the heaviest work. Heat and power will 
be distributed as easily and as generally as gas and 
water are to-day. The system of rural delivery will 
have a new meaning and an immense development. 
Crude fuel, like wood and coal, will not be used except 
at certain central depositaries. Many noises now ex- 
tant in the world will be hushed. It will be an age al- 
most without smoke. 



CHAPTER FOUR 

THE CORN CROP THE SHOW EXPANSION OF THE 

FRONTIER THE FOUNDERS OF INDIANA 

The crop upon which the early settler mainly de- 
pended for his own subsistence and that of the live 
stock upon the farm was corn. Its abundant yield fur- 
nished food for the household, and forage for the rack 
and mang-er. The refined economy of a later age has 
found material for manufacture in the pith, the cob and 
the stalk — all are utilized ; even these by-products of 
corn are of value, though only incidental to its primary 
use as an article of diet. 

Indian corn or maize is, without question, the most 
remarkable food-plant of our planet. In one hundred 
days from seeding-time it matures ; a single full-grown 
ear affords more nutriment than many scores of wheat- 
heads which have required thrice the time to ripen. 
But the distinctive feature of this plant, wherein it ex- 
cels all other cereals, is the dateless period of the har- 
vest. Once ripe, it needs no haste in gathering, stands 
in the husk or shock, unaffected by exposure, not wast- 
ing nor shattering from the ear, awaiting the con- 
venience or the pleasure of the husbandman. Like the 

42 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 43 

rasher of bacon in the pantry, like the spare loaf in the 
cupboard, it invites to come and cut again. 

A field of growing corn, in full leaf, just bursting 
into blossom, though it be so familiar, is a pleasing 
sight. One of the old French missionary fathers, al- 
most two hundred years ago, writing to his superior 
in Europe an account of the corn crop, just then in 
silk and tassel, tilled by his Indian catechumens, says : 
"There are no fields so beautiful as these, outside of i^ 
Paradise," 

The movement of wind over a large area of corn in 
bloom adds greatly to the view, though this movement 
is not wholly ornamental. The maize, though it be not 
an anemone, is somewhat of a wind-plant ; it is haunted 
by and craves the breeze. Dull, sullen weather or a still, 
quiet time during the earing season is not most favor- 
able to its perfect growth. Old cultivators of the crop 
affirm that corn casually planted in places too much 
sheltered from the wind does not mature either in the 
ear or grain so well as that in the more open field. The 
air in motion is needed to disperse the pollen, and the 
bending of the stalk to and fro starts the sap into more 
diffused and rapid circulation. 

The Indians, our predecessors in the cultivation 
of the maize, with some air of derision, called the white 
men wheat-eaters. Because they gathered their bread 
in morsels from the seeds of a grass which took many 
months to mature, when they might, with much less 
cost of time and labor, have carried it from the corn- 
field in armfuls. 



44 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Yet by far the greater number of mankind are still 
wheat-eaters, though the ever increasing pressure of 
the population of the globe on the means of subsist- 
ence, the frequent and wide-spread failure of the rice 
and wheat crop, have within the last three decades 
largely augmented the consumption of corn, both at 
home and abroad. Its capacity for export, either in 
the form of grain or meal, and the abundance and cer- 
tainty of its annual yield, show plainly enough that at 
no distant period it will become one of the staple food 
products of the world. The time is also soon coming 
when the multiplied masses of our own population will 
demand that every nook and corner of the land, capa- 
ble of producing it, be tilled for that purpose. Human 
wants must imperatively control the course of human 
labor. Few countries have a larger wheat-producing 
area than our own. None have any substitute for that 
cereal that can be compared with corn. The increased 
consumption of corn by our own people adds to the 
surplus of wheat for exportation — the appetite and 
taste of the wheat-eater are thus, indirectly, at least,, 
supplied by the product of the cornfield. 

The extent of our area of successful corn cultiva- 
tion, though large, is not unlimited ; it is very nearly 
identical with that of the blue-grass or the clover. In- 
diana is near the heart, almost in the center of the corn 
zone. Of course, there are other climates and places 
within our borders where the plant will germinate and 
grow to the stage of the nubbin or the roasting-ear, 
but as a staple for the market it is not raised much be- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 45 

yond the limits thus described. The corn belt com- 
pared with the territorial surface of the United States 
is not too large ; compared with the tillable area of the 
whole earth it is restricted. These considerations dis- 
close the incalculable value of this grand cereal for the 
future. 

Corn may be grown with some success in parts of 
South America and what is called the Old World, but 
these regions are not many nor extensive. Nature has 
given us a monopoly of this treasure ; it is an annual 
gift in perpetuity far exceeding, in use and value, the 
richest products of the mine. We have the means in 
opulent profusion, the power almost Godlike in its 
character, to appease hunger, to avert famine; we are 
the keepers of the world's granary. A people who 
hold in their hands the control of the food supply of 
nations have in their possession the means of undis- 
turbed commercial supremacy. They have easily 
taken the front place in the grand march of progress, 
and need little of force or aggression to make their 
primacy apparent. 

Aid to the famine-striken, generosity toward ene- 
mies, magnanimity in our intercourse with other coun- 
tries not so highly favored — these are the qualities 
and achievements for which, in the past, we have been 
so highly renowned, and which yet may well become 
those who have, for so many generations, dwelt in the 
land of promise and of plenty — at once the Goshen 
and the Canaan of the new world. 

There was in those early days only one kind of 



46 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

public amusement, occurring once a year, always in 
summer. It was billed and advertised as the Hippo- 
drome or the Amphitheater, and under other high- 
sounding names, but in the racy vernacular of the peo- 
ple it was called the Show. It traveled by the ordinary 
roads of the country, and I recollect very well a time 
when the inhabitants of a considerable village, now 
a city, used to turn out en masse to see the elephant 
cross the river. There was a sort of wagon-bridge 
at this point, but Pompey distrusted this. He took 
his time in passing through the ford, and his playful 
finesse, his feigned manoeuvers of returning, his sport- 
ing with the waters, were very amusing to the crowd 
that awaited his arrival. 

The grand entry of the show into the county-town 
was usually made at high noon. First came a gor- 
geous chariot carrying a band of music that filled the 
air with sonorous strains. This was followed by a 
procession of actors on horseback, clad in shining, 
spangled mail, who wore their helmets with the visors 
up. Then came a line of wagons escorted by showily 
dressed outriders, each bearing a banner of some 
strange device in heraldry, — the whole somewhat re- 
minding the spectator of what is written in the old 
legends of gay romance concerning the opening of a 
tournament at arms. It was curious to see these 
mimic shadows of knight-errantry and chivalry in the 
backwoods so far from the time and place of their 
origin. 

The most popular parts of the program inside the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 47 

pavilion were the equestrian feats. Those in attend- 
ance were mostly from the country ; every man, woman 
and child was deeply interested in horsemanship ; they 
watched the bareback riding, the vaulting, the tricks 
of the well-trained ponies in the ring with unwearied 
delight and wonder. 

The performance closed about five o'clock in the 
afternoon, and the crowd made its exit from the tent. 
The boys from the country lingered round the place, 
and before they were aware of it, often long before 
they had started for home, the pavilion had disap- 
peared and the circus with all its accompaniments had 
commenced its journey to the place of its next ap- 
pointment. The amusement season with us was over 
for the year. 

There were at that time, and may be yet, some well- 
meaning persons that condemn such exhibitions as 
decidedly irreligious or immoral in their tendencies; 
but it should pain the true philanthropist to speak in 
these unmeasured terms of censure of a species of 
entertainment so generally patronized. Such a rigid 
morality makes the multitude of the wicked in this 
world too large and numerous. No gladiator was 
slain to make this Hoosier holiday; nothing un- 
seemly was said or done. Our mirth occasioned by 
the songs, the jests and humor of the clown and his 
comrades was as harmless as the laughter of children 
at play. We were not better than our fathers — to 
them these things were pure. 

One of our acquaintances, living about five miles 



48 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

away, was a Virginian; he had been born and reared 
in that part of the Old Dominion which then bordered 
upon the Ohio River, now cahed West Virginia. He 
had lived some time in the neighborhood of the Kana- 
wha valley and told us stories about Adam Poe and 
Big-foot long before we read them. First he had 
moved into Ohio, then into southern Indiana, thence 
to the place near us where he had resided some years. 
He was a man of sixty years, tall and robust. His 
gait and demeanor were agile and alert. He never 
took any road or path, but always came through the 
woods, carrying his rifle on his shoulder. In the 
hunting season he wore a full suit of buckskin, 
trousers, vest and coat, and passed through the nettles, 
burs and Spanish needles with impunity. Frequently 
he came to see my father and to confer with him : 
they were members of the same communion, the Dis- 
ciples' Church. He owned a quarter-section of land, 
and was a good farmer, but cared only to raise enough 
produce for his own use. 

I heard him telling my father that a new man had 
come into his neighborhood ; that he was said to be 
full-handed, was building a double cabin and had 
blazed out a large clearing in the big timber about two 
miles below his place. My father expressed some 
gratification at this increase in the number of families 
in the settlement, and the consequent improvement 
of the country. The old Virginian dissented ; he said 
the people were getting too thick around him already ; 
that when he first came there he had often shot and 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 49 

killed a deer from his front fence in the morning and 
had the steak for breakfast ; now it took him weeks to 
find one. He was reminded that the feathered game 
was still abundant; but he said that the people were 
digging up all the sang, and that the pheasants and 
wild turkeys would not stay long in a country where 
they could not get .yan^-berries to eat ; that they would 
soon go away, and he had made up his mind to go 
away too. He sold his place the following October 
and, having rigged three covered wagons for the jour- 
ney, removed with his household, settling in some 
part of what is now Kansas or Nebraska, near the 
Missouri River. Some of us went to bid him good-by 
the day he started. He was not only cheerful but in 
high spirits ; his whole family were in the same humor, 
glad to go into the farther West, to see again a new 
world with all before them from which to choose. 

There was even at that day a class of our people who 
had grown weary of the too close impact of civiliza- 
tion. They had borne a part, a large and gallant part, 
in the founding of the commonwealth, had subdued 
the Indians and the forest, but they could not master 
their own longing for the free and open life of the 
frontier; it had for them that sort of fascination which 
the sea has for the sailor. What we called progress and 
improvement they thought was retrogression and de- 
cay. They loved not even the morning of civilization 
as they did the earlier dawn, though they looked for 
their dawn toward the sunset, not toward the Orient. 

What may be called the modern history of our state 



50 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

began on the day when General Clark set out from the 
falls of the Ohio upon his famous expedition against 
Vincennes. That expedition and its fortunate result 
first revealed to the people of Virginia and the Atlantic 
states the resources of the immense region, well- 
watered, fertile and arable, that lay in the territory of 
the northwest. The country was not unknown before, 
but it was unnoticed. The exodus, long continued, 
which followed this revelation, attested its value and 
reality. The migration to Indiana during the closing 
years of the eighteenth and the beginning of the next 
century, in some respects has had few parallels in the 
world's history. It was not like that of the ancient 
Phenicians to Carthage and northern Africa, or that 
of the Greeks to the shores of the Euxine, or of the 
Romans to Spain and Britain, — still less did it resem- 
ble that of the English to the tide-water regions of 
Massachusetts, Virginia and the Carolinas. 

All these colonists in their removal still retained and 
enjoyed the means of communication and commercial 
intercourse with the kindred and countrymen whom 
they had left behind them. But the emigrants to the 
country now called Indiana, in that early period spoken 
of, having passed the last military outpost on their way 
and gone thence into the depths of the wilderness, were 
as wholly severed from the world as Columbus when he 
sailed upon his first voyage into the unknown waters of 
the western ocean. They were in a condition of ex- 
treme, almost total, isolation. They made their home 
in the midst of a vast forest, for the most part unex- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 5 1 

plored and uninhabited save by roving bands of In- 
dians, equipped with weapons far more deadly than 
those of the chiefs and warriors who, more than a hun- 
dred years before, had attempted with their chibs, bows 
and arrows, to exterminate the white settlements in the 
valleys of the Potomac and Connecticut. Whether the 
pioneer settler reaped, plowed or planted, his rifle must 
be within reach. Solitude seldom broken, danger al- 
ways imminent, shadowed his daily life and labor. 

Plutarch observes that those who found prosperous 
states and communities are more worthy of praise and 
commendation than any other benefactors of the 
human race. Yet it has been somewhat the fashion, 
both in writing and conversation, to decry the pioneers 
and early settlers of our state as being generally 
coarse, ignorant, lawless and violent. The founders 
of Indiana were, for the most part, emigrants from 
the thirteen original states, and they came hither in 
nearly equal proportion from the North and South. 
They were the best element of that hardy population 
which inhabited the long line of the old Colonial fron- 
tier extending from Maine to Georgia. Some of them 
were men of intellectual attainments and of classic 
education, everywhere welcomed and recognized as 
leaders in the new community. The much greater 
number were actuated by one dominant purpose, one 
salient ambition ; this was to make for themselves and 
for their household larger and better homes. These 
pioneers in emigration, leaving their former domiciles. 
did not leave behind them their respect for law and 



52 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

order, their reverence for religion, or their love of civil 
and political liberty. All these they carried with them 
upon their journey. The early legislation and the first 
constitution of our state show in every line and sen- 
tence of the venerable text, how thoroughly they were 
imbued with those principles. 

These predecessors in our goodly heritage had the 
courage to leave a land of comparative comfort and 
security, fortitude to endure the hardships and dangers 
incident to such departure, self-reliance constant and 
unwavering, a fixity of purpose and integrity of life, 
which upheld their hands and hopes in what they had 
undertaken. They were a thoughtful people, slow to 
^ anger, quick neither to take nor to give offense, but 
prompt to resent insult or injury when offered. They 
. were diligent in their work — but took their time in 
doing it; they depended more than we do upon the 
morrow for its completion, but they did complete it. 
They were very frank in conversation, kindly in social 
intercourse. Their manner of speech was plain, direct 
— to use their own phrase, home-spoken, but without 
coarseness or duplicity. 

Many of these patriarchs had unique personal his- 
tories and gifts of description and narration quite re- 
markable; and if their stories were long, they were 
eagerly listened to, on account of the manifest good 
faith and verity of the narrator. They were a very 
religious community, yet without the least trace of 
superstition. Possessed of lively imaginative powers, 
they might have peopled the wide expanse of wood 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 53 

and waters round them with elves and fairies, nymphs 
and naiads ; but they looked in the woods only for game 
or Indians, and saw only what they looked for. 

Nevertheless they walked not by sight alone. They 
cherished a faith sincere and simple, unobscured by 
the mirage of the higher criticism. Nearly all of 
them belonged to some church communion ; there was 
much difference of opinion on these subjects, but this 
caused no breach of brotherly kindness or of neigh- 
borly good will and courtesy. The creed and form 
of worship were as free as thought itself. Not a few 
of these men in the vanguard of civilization were very 
illiterate, being able neither to read nor write ; yet they 
were not uneducated. They had learned some of the 
lessons of life and knew them better than the savants 
of Oxford or Cambridge, or the Pilgrim Fathers, with 
all their erudition. They had in a very free way 
wrought out their destiny in the wilderness. Mental, 
moral, political independence was their birthright. 

Our forefathers dwelling under this sky of the West 
were a chosen people who, without the visible guidance 
of the cloud or pillar, made a Christian solution of 
the problem that for ages had embroiled their ances- 
tors in bloodiest warfare. Even in the infancy of this 
commonwealth or in the days of its youth and inex- 
perience, there was no religious test either for office 
or the franchise. No Baptist was banished, no 
Quaker was scourged or held in durance, but every one 
worshiped God according to the dictates of his own 
conscience. If any man forbore either to believe or 



54 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

worship, he incurred thereby no statutory pains or 
penalties. The founders of our state passed beyond 
the line of mere religious toleration; they eliminated 
from their form of polity both persecution and its vic- 
tim, and provided that martyrdom should be a thing 
impossible. They relied upon the utmost freedom of 
speech and opinion as the best safeguard of truth and 
the surest correction of error. They gave no credence 
to the doctrine that the growth of religious sentiment 
should be accompanied by some sort of proscription 
of dissent, or that as faith waxed stronger, charity 
should cease or fail. Greater was the charity of our 
fathers, even as their faith more abounded. 

The lines of party division in those days were 
strictly drawn and sharply defined. Political differ- 
ences were freely dealt with and questions of public 
moment were thoroughly debated. The ballot was as 
free as the mode of worship. For many years there 
were no statutes against bribery or intimidation at 
elections. None was needed. The multiform enact- 
ments of later years indicate the sensitiveness of public 
opinion on this subject, as they may also mark some- 
what of decadence in the purity of the franchise. 

The ancient provisions of the ordinance of 1787, 
touching common school education and involuntary 
servitude, although for a long period the subjects of 
active controversy, were faithfully adhered to and 
loyally maintained. 

In the beginning of our social and civil organiza- 
tion those who attended meetings of any kind always 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 55 

went armed. An aged judge speaking of this told me 
that in his youth the court-room during term bore the 
appearance of a miUtary post : witnesses, parties, jury- 
men and bystanders brought with them their guns 
and accoutrements. I have seen, several times, on the 
walls of old meeting-houses, remnants of the wooden 
hooks, upon which, during the hours of worship, the 
rifles of those present were hung, loaded and primed, 
ready for instant use. These precautions were taken 
against attack by the Indians, which was often sudden 
and unexpected. Still, a habit so constantly in use 
must have had a marked effect upon the manners of the 
people. It largely conduced to the observance of the 
true civilities of life, to mutual respect and deference, 
whether in public or private intercourse. 

Among brave men thus equipped, who met together 
for any purpose, there was a savor of knightly bearing 
shown in the considerate regard paid to the feelings 
and wishes, even to the prejudices and prepossessions, 
of their comrades and associates. Utterances of in- 
discretion and violence, in this armed presence were 
quietly suppressed; the cost of the feud was counted, 
its consequences were weighed and measured, re- 
strained and averted. 

The native chivalry of the frontiersman, though it 
may have been unpolished and uncouth, had yet a real 
origin and meaning. Its influence was felt perceptibly 
long after the custom of bearing arms, once so gen- 
eral, had become obsolete. 

In that primitive age there was an innate honest 



56 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

simplicity of manners, as of thought and action. 
Fraud, wrong-doing and injustice were denounced as 
they are at present; they were also discredited, dis- 
honored, and branded with an ostracism more severe 
than that of Athens. Wealth acquired by such means 
could not evade, and was unable to conceal, the stigma 
that attached to the hidden things of dishonesty. 

The moral atmosphere of the time was clear and 
bracing; it repelled specious pretensions, resisted in- 
iquity and steadily rejected the evil which calls itself 
good. Moreover, there never has been a people who 
wrought into the spirit of their public enactments the 
virtues of their private character more completely 
than the early settlers of Indiana. We have grown 
up in the shadow of their achievements ; these need not 
be forgotten in the splendor of our own. 



CHAPTER FIVE 

SCHOOL-DAYS SENATOR ALBERT S. WHITE HIS 

SPEECH AT THE WHIG MEETING IN 184O WHIG 

MASS-MEETING AT THE BATTLE-GROUND COLLEGE 

COURSE VACATION WORK ON THE FARM THE 

MEXICAN WAR THE OLD TOWN AND THE NEW 

My father was very much attached to farm life, and 
after spending several years in the country he was 
loath to leave it. One purpose, however, overshad- 
owed this attachment, — that of giving his children the 
means of good education. Both our parents were de- 
termined that to accomplish this object they must go 
to some town, where schools were kept near enough 
to our home for easy and regular attendance. Al- 
though moving to town to educate the children has 
since become a common event in family history, 
in that early day the little world we lived in was much 
surprised by such a flitting. The project encountered 
many objections, much of expostulation and regret, 
from our good neighbors, but there was no change of 
purpose. One morning, very early, we left the cabin 
and the clearing, and after traveling all day, at sun- 
down we reached a new home at Lafayette. 

Within a week afterward we commenced attending 

57 



58 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

school, and I began the study of grammar, geography 
and arithmetic in its higher branches. In reading 
we used the National and English Readers, both in the 
i same class. My National Reader is yet well preserved 
and certainly offers a choice collection. In geography 
we had Smith and Olney ; in arithmetic, Pike and Day- 
ball; in grammar, Kirkham and Murray; under the 
teacher's order we interchanged these text-books. 
There was no attempt at any greater uniformity. Our 
teacher told us there were different ways of doing a 
sum or of parsing or writing a sentence; rarely he 
stated which of these was best; he preferred that we 
should decide that for ourselves by what he called 
afterthought. This diversity of method and text- 
books made more work both for pupils and teacher, 
but what is learned with greater labor may be remem- 
bered longer and with more certainty. Bodies, of 
course, can be clothed in absolute uniformity, but 
whether minds may be most profitably thus appareled 
might be matter of question. A careful diversity in 
some degree discloses advantages not incident to the 
other method. Long established systems are prone 
to routine. Thus the labor of change and trial is 
avoided and the game stands still because no one is 
willing to make a move. Not all change is improve- 
ment, but improvement comes not otherwise. 

The head of our school was called the master, or, 
in full, the schoolmaster. Our master was very par- 
ticular about deportment. We were taught to stand 
erect, to walk and to bow in good form, to remove the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 59 

cap or hat on entering' a room, and how to replace it in 
departing. We were admonished to respect old age, 
and to reverence those whom he called the ministers 
of the Word. 

We had no text-book on civil government, but we 
had lessons on the subject. A glance into the old 
school-room, nearly seventy years ago, would have 
shown this class drawn up for recital just before the 
noon recess. It stood in a long line running from one 
side of the room to the other, and all the scholars had 
leave to suspend their own studies and listen. Then 
came the question from the master : Who is the presi- 
dent of the United States? and the answer from the 
class : Martin Van Buren of New York. Who is the 
vice-president? Richard M. Johnson of Kentucky. 
Who is the governor of the state of Indiana? David 
Wallace. Who is the lieutenant-governor? David 
Hillis. Then followed the names of the senators from 
the state, and that of the member of Congress from the 
district. In like manner, the names of the judges of 
the circuit court were repeated. The lesson also com- 
prised brief explanations of the duties of these officials. 
On other days we had the Christopher Columbus les- 
son, or the Washington and Independence lesson, so 
that some of the cardinal points in American history 
and government were learned by the whole school long 
before many of them could read or write. 

Friday in our school was called speech day. The 
older boys, in the afternoon, then recited "pieces" that 
they had committed to memory. The girls at the same 



6o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

time read compositions. Declamations by the boys 
were criticized publicly by the master after each per- 
formance, but the compositions of the girls he took 
home with him. Upon examination, errors were 
noted with the pencil, and the papers were then re- 
turned to the writers — a difference of treatment well 
marked by courtesy and discretion. 

Our schoolmaster was a man of great patience. 
Upon errors in grammar, spelling or pronunciation he 
was very severe ; mistakes in gesture or demeanor were 
noticed in a formal but more kindly manner. In his 
praise of a good performance he was full and liberal ; 
in his censure of a bad one, clear and positive. All 
of us took pleasure in not offending him by a failure. 
I do not know where he got his system of discipline 
or method of instruction, — certainly from no public 
law, rules or regulations. There were none. They were 
probably the outgrowth of his own reflection upon the 
duties of his position. 

I saw the schoolmaster only once after attaining the 
years of manhood. He had then become quite gray, 
somewhat stooped with age in his walk, but was lively 
and cheerful, glad to meet me and to talk over the 
various fortunes of his former pupils. He was then 
a country physician, of the best repute and in full 
practice. His life was long, quiet, obscure, yet full 
of goodly service to the close. Little he cared about 
name or fame; he was careful only of duty. "If we 
take duty for our guide it will also be our guard," was 
a saying we often heard from the master. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 6l 

When living in the country, I used to wonder what 
the town boys did in summer. I soon learned that the 
town boys did not spend much of their time in the vil- 
lage. They made long excursions to the river bottoms, 
the woods and the neighboring farms. They fished, 
hunted, gathered fruits in their season ; occasionally a 
contraband supply of these was taken from the or- 
chard, but usually we had full leave, readily given. 
Sometimes we got work in the harvest field and shared 
in its good cheer and merriment. 

In the outskirts of the town where we lived there 
was an inn — so called — so kept. It stood upon a street 
corner, which we passed every day in going to school. 
Here Mr. Albert S. White had his rooms and lodging ; 
he was one of the United States senators from Indi- 
ana ; he was at this time a bachelor, had an office down 
town, but dwelt at the inn, no doubt from choice, as it 
was a quiet, pleasant house, and convenient for those 
who called to see him. He was a man of very affable 
manners, always spoke to the school-boys whom he 
met, touched his hat when we doffed ours, and occa- 
sionally stopped to talk with us. We saw and noticed 
him day after day and often made our small reflections 
about the high place which he held and his manner of 
life in Washington. 

After we had been going to school for a year or two, 
one day the town was billed with notices of a Whig 
meeting, to be addressed by Senator Wliite; the time 
was fixed for Saturday at one o'clock in the afternoon. 
As Saturday was always a holiday with us, we made 



62 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

up a party to attend the meeting, chiefly to hear him. 
The meeting was held out of doors, and the attendance 
was large, mostly of people from the country. When 
we arrived Mr. White had already commenced his 
address, which was delivered from a wagon standing 
under the shade of an old beech. He held in his hand 
a document from which he read, commenting upon it 
as he proceeded. This document was the celebrated 
Ogle report. The Whigs charged at that time that 
there had been a very lavish and unnecessary expendi- 
ture of public money in furnishing the White House, 
its gardens and grounds, and that the Democratic 
president, Mr. Van Buren, was responsible for this ex- 
penditure. The first words of the address which I 
heard, related to the purchase of golden spoons for the 
use of the president's table. Mr. White said that this 
was a mere waste of the national revenue, and he 
sharply contrasted these costly spoons with those of 
horn and wood, still not out of use among the people. 
In the course of reading the report, he came to an 
item for the purchase of a large number of young 
trees of the moms multicaulis, saying that his Latin 
was a little rusty, but that he understood these words 
to mean the many-leaved mulberry, whose foliage was 
fed upon by the silkworm ; that the president had gone 
into the mulberry trade in order to procure, as he sup- 
posed, silk napkins, table-cloths and towels to match 
the golden spoons. He added that there was another 
kind of tree which would have been far more appro- 
priate to adorn the lawn and gardens of the executive 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 63 

mansion than the morns multicaulis; that tree was the 
iihiius Iitbrica, in EngHsh, the sHppery ehn. When 
he spoke of the sHppery dm he was interrupted by 
prolonged shouts and laughter. 

Mr. Van Buren was already well known to the pub- 
lic as the Kinderhook Wizard, and The Little Magi- 
cian, and although Mr. White had applied none of 
these epithets to the president, the audience readily 
made the application. In the latter part of his address 
Mr. White became more grave and serious, describing 
tfie Whig national convention, held a few months be- 
fore, which had nominated General Harrison for the 
presidency. He related the account of Harrison's gov- 
ernment of this territory : his faithful and long con- 
tinued safeguarding of white settlers on the frontier, 
his treaties with the Indian tribes, his defeat of the 
Prophet at Tippecanoe, the subsequent overthrow and 
death of Tecumseh at the Thames, closing with an ap- 
peal, full of force and feeling, to the old soldiers and 
settlers of Indiana to stand by their former friend and 
commander as one who had worthily deserved the 
highest honors of the Republic. 

The speech was well received, applause was mani- 
fested by the waving of hats and clapping of hands, and 
many of the audience walked up to the speaker's stand 
and tendered their congratulations. None of our 
group of school-boys went forward ; our old acquaint- 
ance, Mr. White, had suddenly become in some way 
a stranger to us : he seemed upon the stand before a 
pul)lic assembly to be so much greater, higher, than 



64 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

upon the street — we felt too much abashed to approach 
him. This address, made now more than sixty years 
ago. was the first stump speech I ever heard. It was, 
judging from the effect following it, an excellent speci- 
men. It gave life and movement to the Whig cam- 
paign, which from that day prospered without ceasing 
until it ended in the election of General Harrison to 
the presidency. 

During this presidential campaign of 1840, a great 
Whig rally was held at the Tippecanoe battle-ground. 
It was attended by people from all parts of the nortfi- 
west. They came by land and water in every kind 
of conveyance : in wagons, in huge log cabins mounted 
on wheels, in long canoes painted and decorated with 
party emblems. The number of persons who thus 
came together was estimated at twenty thousand, a 
great multitude for such a sparsely settled country. 
The meeting was held after school had been dismissed 
for the season and lasted three days ; the Wabash River 
was in good stage of water, and the steamboats ran in 
excursion from Lafayette to a point on the river about 
two miles from the battle-ground. A party of our 
school-boys attended the rally two days, returning 
home at night by the boat. On the first day, when we 
had walked over from the landing-place to the grounds, 
and stood upon the elevated point of woodland, said 
to have been the site of Harrison's headquarters 
twenty-nine years before, we were surprised by the 
view round about us. The whole woods and the lower 
level of the prairie for a long distance were filled with 



e 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 65 

tents, wagons, flags, banners and streamers. It seemed 
like an actual military encampment, except that there 
was not much order in the arrangement. 

We strolled about busy in sight-seeing until noon; 
hunger suggested dinner ; we passed lunch-wagons and 
boarding tents, but were most attracted by the barbe- 
cue. This was not a mock roast of cut joints and sev- 
ered pieces, but a real barbecue — a roast of whole car- 
casses — carcasses of shoats, sheep and oxen, dressed 
and spitted, cooking over a long trench by the heat of 
the well-tended fires. Near these stood the carvers at 
meal-time, with their long sharp knives, who cut and 
served to you the part you chose. In the rear of the 
barbecue-trench there was a smaller one where the bur- 
goo was made, in large kettles boiling over a slow fire, 
and the soup, rich and well seasoned, was ladled into 
your dish ; cups and spoons, rinsed in running water, 
corn cakes and wheaten rolls, were handed round to all 
comers, without money and with ready good will. 

The site of the battle-ground was then unimproved, 
in its natural condition, except a small space where 
those that fell in the engagement had been buried ; this 
was inclosed by a plain board fence. Several stands 
were erected for speaking, printed bills gave the names 
of the speakers and announced the hour of meeting, 
and many bands of music played during the intervals. 
Eminent statesmen of the Whig party from different 
parts of the country spoke on this occasion, but the star 
speaker and guest was Mr. James Brooks, of the city of 
New York. Mr. Brooks was the editor of the Evening 



66 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Express, at that time the leading Whig newspaper in 
the East. He had been long a friend and admirer of 
Mr. Clay's, and had earnestly supported his candidacy 
for the presidency; his presence at this great assem- 
blage was understood to signify that the distinguished 
Kentuckian would give his aid to the cause of Gen- 
eral Harrison. Mr. Brooks was a pleasant speaker, 
altogether colloquial in tone and manner. He had at- 
tended the Whig national convention at Harrisburg 
and gave us an account of its opening, when the 
presiding officer rapped upon the desk with his gavel 
saying: "The nation will now come to order." He 
predicted in his remarks that New York would cast its 
electoral vote for Harrison, enlarged upon the reasons 
for such action, and announced his unshaken confi- 
dence in the belief that Indiana and her sister states 
of the northwest would take the same course by what 
he called sweeping majorities. 

There were at this meeting several aged men, some 
of them in old-fashioned uniform and equipment, who 
had served in the campaign of 1811 under General 
Harrison. They lived in southern Indiana and had 
made a long journey to see again the place where they 
had fought and beaten the Indians many years before. 
You could see these veterans in the crowd, each with 
an attentive group of listeners around him, telling 
stories of the battle. We school-boys edged into the 
group and heard them eagerly. They spoke of the first 
attack, made, to use their own words, in the darkest 
corner of the night, just before daybreak ; then of the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 67 

second with larger force and heavier firing. They re- 
lated how they heard the loud voice of the Prophet 
above the din of battle urging his warriors to the 
front; and how the white men stood their ground, 
charged and repulsed the enemy; then how the In- 
dian fire slackened, while random shots, here and 
there, came from the high grass or surrounding thick- 
ets. They told us of the retreat and of their pursuit, 
of the capture and burning of the Prophet's town 
and of the fields of standing corn which had been 
planted and raised by the Indians for their subsistence 
during the winter. They said they took few prisoners 
— the warriors would not be taken ; the Indian women 
and children had been sent away into the forest jungle 
between the two rivers. They thought it would never 
be known what the Indian loss was in the engagement ; 
they hid their dead, carried off and concealed their 
wounded; but it must have been severe, since they 
never afterward appeared in force or with any hostile 
purpose in that part of Indiana. 

It is said that at one of the Indian schools in our 
state, not long ago, the history class had reached the 
chapter giving an account of the battle of Tippecanoe. 
After reading it, the instructor asked a printed ques- 
tion, appearing at the bottom of the page, in these 
words : "Was it not a fortunate thing for our country 
that the Americans gained this victory and thus opened 
up to peaceable settlement a large and fertile area of 
the West?" To which question the Indian boys of the 
class answered with a "No," loud and unanimous. 



68 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIAIES 

We had lived now several years in town and had 
made the discovery that town life, even in an unpaved 
village where log houses and wooden store-rooms yet 
abounded, was quite different from that of our former 
home; but our life in the country was not forgotten, 
and was still preferred. My father made annual visits 
and always returned more and more interested in the 
affairs of the farm. We had enjoyed a long and excel- 
lent course of schooling and looked forward with 
pleasure to a removal, which would enable him to re- 
sume his favorite occupation. 

During my school-days I had found no trouble in 
keeping up with my classes, had a great deal of spare 
time for other work, and, with the assistance of kind 
friends, had undertaken the study of what were then 
known as the learned tongues, and attained, for my age 
and opportunities, a considerable proficiency in them. 
I made also some acquaintance with Euclid, no small 
progress in mathematics and in land surveying. These 
home studies had been so well directed and closely pur- 
sued that in taking a regular academic course, I was, 
upon examination, entered in the second half of the 
sophomore year, and had spent only a little more than 
two years at Kenyon College when I received my 
diploma and took the degree. 

The vacations of my student life were always spent 
at home and were occupied with work upon the farm, 
where my father was then living. He was well satisfied 
with having returned to the country, though manifold 
chang-es had occurred during his residence in town. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 69 

Our neighborhood had become more populous: new 
houses, new clearings and fields appeared on every 
side. A few years of emigration had made no small 
difference in the settlement. In the harvest field the 
cradle, with its long pendulous fingers, had supplanted 
the sickle, except in the fence corners. Stoves had 
come into the kitchen, though flails were still used in 
the barn. 

The opening of the canal to navigation had given 
additional value to almost everything except honesty 
and good faith; these were worth as much before as 
afterward. The system of exchanging help in harvest 
had almost disappeared; hands were regularly em- 
ployed and wages were paid in money. There was as 
yet, however, very little of what is called agricultural 
machinery. Having been rather an expert with the 
sickle, I now became familiar with the use of the 
cradle and still handled the flail very well. My father 
had built a frame house and a large barn on the farm 
he had bought. In the barn there was an open space 
called the threshing-floor, where the grain was trodden 
out by horses or beaten out by hand. In the threshing- 
floor there was a novelty in the shape of the fanning- 
mill, a new contrivance. It was turned by hand, looked 
like a large covered grindstone, and, by an arrange- 
ment of wooden fans and vibrating sieves, cleaned the 
wheat or other grain better and more rapidly than the 
old method of winnowing. The operation of the new 
machine was a very dull and monotonous grind. Win- 
nowing, on a fair day with a stirring breeze, was an 



70 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

attractive occupation. It was pleasant to observe the 
flight of the dust and chaff, the steady fah and heaping 
up of the heavier grain. Our elders often called upon 
us to note the Scripture lesson given in this kind of 
work, — how it was written that the wheat should be 
gathered into the garner, but the chaff — it is hardly 
now accounted good form even to mention the fiery 
doom of the chaff. 

I easily kept pace at college with my class, and 
passed regularly all the examinations of the year. 
After studying and reciting the lessons of the day 
there was a good deal of time at my disposal for other 
pursuits. I had access to an extensive library and 
made constant use of it. I belonged to one of the stu- 
dent societies where the question most prominent in 
debate, under various forms, was as to the justice and 
necessity of the war with Mexico, then in active prog- 
ress. In this discussion I took sides with the adminis- 
tration of Mr. Polk, then president, and became known 
as a member of the Democratic party, — a junior mem- 
ber, but active and vigorous in support of its policy 
and principles, and have since maintained the same 
political connection. 

The Mexican war was not prosecuted by Santa 
Anna and the politicians of the Mexican Republic then 
in power, nor was it undertaken by the statesmen of our 
own government, with the purpose of merely adjusting 
tlieir differences concerning the Nueces and the Rio 
Grande as the divisional line between Texas and Mex- 
ico. The ultimate design of Mexico was really this: 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 7I 

to regain Texas and to make the southern line of the 
Louisiana purchase the boundary between the two 
countries ; on the other hand, our underlying purpose 
was to retain Texas and to make the line of the Rio 
Grande, extended to the Pacific, the limit of our pos- 
sessions. The military expeditions of Doniphan, Cook 
and Kearny in the southwest and in California, as re- 
markable in their achievement as any which occurred 
elsewhere during the war, clearly show this policy. We 
acquired absolutely no territory by the treaty made at 
the conclusion of the war or afterward, except with the 
view of establishing this new line of frontier. We had 
already military possession of all the territory which 
was ceded, but did not retain all that we had conquered. 
We held in our hands the city of Mexico, had undis- 
turbed possession of Vera Cruz, the principal maritime 
city and seaport of Mexico, and, had we chosen, might 
have held it as England holds Gibralter in Spain. 

No war has ever been waged in which the van- 
quished were treated with greater forbearance and 
magnanimity than that of the United States against 
Mexico. Whatever differences of opinion may exist in 
regard to the Mexican War, none can be entertained 
concerning the peace which followed it. That peace 
has been constant, permanent and beneficial. For more 
than half a century the two republics have dwelt to- 
gether in mutual amity. At one juncture of transcen- 
dent importance the United States showed more than 
amity. Our friendly, but efficient, intervention against 



y2 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the armed occupation of Mexico by the imperial forces 
of France led to the overthrow of Maximilian and the 
restoration of the Republic. 

Among other changes in our neighborhood the town 
of Americus had made a good growth and was be- 
coming a place of considerable commercial activity. 
Americus had been known for many years as a small 
country hamlet, where steamers occasionally landed in 
their trips up and down the river. But at this time it 
was a port of entry upon the Wabash and Erie Canal, 
and contained a number of stores, warehouses, steam 
mills and lumber-yards, doing a large business with 
the people of the adjacent country. It had a canal 
basin where boats lay during the winter, and where, 
during summer, they could be loaded and unloaded 
without obstructing navigation on the main level. The 
old fashioned inn or tavern had disappeared ; its place 
was taken by a hotel, crowded with guests, dealers in 
grain or timber, who came there for opportunities of 
traffic. It began to be whispered in confidence that 
a new county would be organized and that Americus 
was to be the capital. The town seemed to be moving 
fast on the way to permanent prosperity, when a new 
industry caused it to suffer a disastrous change. 

Some years afterward a line of railroad was sur- 
veyed and constructed parallel with the canal, but 
some distance from it at this point. The old river or 
canal town was not made a station upon the railroad 
built near it, and rapidly lost its trade, its population 
and importance. Pioneer railroad corporations of In- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 73 

diana had quite as much sentiment in their manage- 
ment as the wolves which their steam whistle scared 
off the track. Local interests and associations or pre- 
dilections, received scant attention from these iron- 
clad caterans, unless they were heavily backed by 
money. It is true they did not plunder or pillage the 
old town, but they founded a new one on their own 
line as its rival, and aggrandized it by special and 
continued favor. They shunted the old town out of 
the way, and without remorse consigned it to an irre- 
trievable condition of oblivion and decline. 

There are many towns in Indiana such as the one 
here mentioned, formerly in a highly prosperous state, 
which from like causes are now almost unknown, and 
as little spoken of as Baalbec or Tadmor in the wilder- 
ness. 



CHAPTER SIX 

THE SCHOOLMASTER BOARDING ROUND SPELLING, 

READING, WRITING AND CIPHERING THE SOCIETY 

OF DEBTOR AND CREDITOR LAW STUDIES ADMIS- 
SION TO THE BAR TOWNS OF INDIANA IN 1 849 

A TYPICAL COUNTY-TOWN THE OLD SQUIRE WIL- 
LIAM M. KENTON 

Having completed the course at college and having 
chosen the law as a profession, I now sought employ- 
ment as a teacher, to procure means for the prosecu- 
tion of legal studies. I applied to the trustees of a 
district, at some distance from home but in the same 
county, for a license to teach. Under the statute then 
in force there was a board of trustees who had charge 
of educational affairs within their jurisdiction, and 
the chairman of the board upon application called a 
meeting of the members and appointed a day for ex- 
amination. 

When we met the trustees asked me questions for an 
hour. These were answered promptly and plainly; 
they were well pleased with the answers and at last 
asked me for a specimen of my handwriting. Taking 
a sheet of paper I wrote on it, in my best hand, one of 

74 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 75 

the oldest legends in the copy-books of that time — I 
think it may have come over in the Mayflower : 

At Dover dzvell George Brozvn, Esquire, 
Good Carlos Finch and David Pry or. _^ - 

They were delighted with the copy, especially with 
the capital letters. The chairman then asked me how 
many branches I intended to teach, I told him I 
should not go much into the branches, but should try 
to keep along the main stream. Turning toward his 
colleagues he said the young man would do very well ; 
they made out, signed and gave me my certificate. As 
yet, however, I had no school. The public at that 
time only furnished the school-house, its furniture and 
fuel. The salary of the teacher depended upon the 
good will of the people of the district; the schools 
were maintained by private payment and subscription. 
Next day a canvass of the district began. Walking 
from house to house with my articles of subscription, 
soliciting pupils, was not a work that could be done 
very hastily; at every home there was a free con- 
versation about the children, their lessons and their 
former and future progress. I was well received and 
had been engaged two days in this task when on the 
third day the chairman of the trustees came with his 
buggy and kindly took me in it, and the canvass was 
completed in this manner with his assistance. Fifty 
scholars were subscribed when the school opened, and 
afterward even more than this number were some- 
times in attendance. 



•^ 



•j6 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

I began my school on the first day by assigning the 
pupils to their classes. There was the same diversity 
of text-books as when I myself had been a school-boy; 
several of my pupils used the New Testament as a 
reader ; but this diversity gave little embarrassment ; it 
was customary and not unexpected. When the divi- 
sion into classes was completed, lessons were heard 
until four o'clock in the afternoon, and then a brief 
address was made to the scholars upon the subject 
of rules and deportment during school hours. 

The day had been passed in some suspense, for al- 
though I had brought with me from home a lunch for 
dinner, I did not know where I was to spend the night. 
■But just as the address was finished a young girl of 
twelve years came up to the desk and with great civility 
invited me, on behalf of her parents, to their house for 
supper, adding that I was expected to stay with them 
two weeks. I thanked her, took my satchel and ac- 
companied her to her home. 

Thus commenced my experience of hoarding round. 
Some of our writers have done this custom a partial in- 
justice. They seem to think that it was founded wholly 
upon reasons of economy. But in this district and in 
many others it was accounted a privilege — somewhat 
of an honor — to entertain the schoolmaster; this was 
one of the causes for rotation in that ofiice. Several of 
the patrons of the school, with whom I lodged, dis- 
claimed all credit on that account, paid the full amount 
of their subscriptions, treating me as a guest, not as a 
debtor. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES ^J 

My school continued to make fair progress, and no 
use was made of the rod. ahhoug-h it was then in vogue. 
Three very trim hickory switches were suspended on 
wooden hooks above the blackboard as part of the or- 
dinary school furniture, but the dust on them was 
not disturbed during my administration. In the line 
of discipline some valuable hints were obtained from 
the older teachers in adjoining districts, whom I met 
occasionally on the school border. 

The old-time country schoolmaster was a person 
well known and appreciated in the community where 
he resided. Though occasionally engaged in other 
business during the long vacation between his terms, 
he was not, as has been said of him, a Jack-of-all- 
trades. He was usually a man of a certain simplicity 
of character, of much singleness of heart, and zeal- 
ously devoted to the duties of his calling. In the ele- 
mentary branches which he taught he was well versed, 
often an expert in spelling, parsing and geography. 
Many of his order were devotees of the pen, training 
themselves to write readily with either hand. I knew 
one of them who wrote short sentences, using a pen 
in each hand at the same time, a feat not easy of per- 
formance, as any one may learn who tries it. 

In the use of text-books the teacher had no choice ; he 
must needs' take those that were brought by his pupils 
from their homes ; but in the method of oral instruction 
his choice was absolute: he w^as thoroughly inde- 
pendent, being his own superintendent and principal. 
This method of instruction engrossed much of his 



78 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

thought and reflection. A veteran of the craft told me, 
many years ago, that no matter where he lived or what 
he was doing, he spent a great deal of his time in the 
township of Think-it-over and in the county of Mother- 
wit, studying the subject of How to teach. In conse- 
quence of this the master could, and did, teach others 
what he knew; he had, in his own way, the gift of 
imparting, and was diligent in its exercise ; was care- 
ful not to make the task of learning too easy for his 
pupils, believing that knowledge thus acquired was 
not so well impressed as when accompanied by some 
proper effort. With those who were slow or dull of 
apprehension he was very patient; but for mere indo- 
lence the rod threatened a reign of terror. Although 
proud of a scholar who showed excellence in his 
studies, l^e discarded the whole system of prizes and 
premiums. The highest reward in his service was to 
stand at the head of the class ; yet to be at the foot was 
no punishment, for the teacher always spoke of this as 
a mischance which time would remedy; some one, of 
necessity, must be at the foot, but the way upward to 
the front was impartially kept open. 

Thus the schoolmaster, year after year, through the 
shortened days of many a winter, took up and carried 
his accustomed burden. He had a full share in the 
prolonged labor of forming and building the state. 
Of what we are, he was a part; we can not forget or 
disown him ; he deserves rather to be remembered with 
somewhat of regard and gratitude. 

A number of my pupils were older than myself, and 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 79 

some of these formed small classes in grammar, algebra 
and land surveying. The young men and women in 
these classes were anxious to learn, very diligent in 
their studies, brooked no confusion or disorder, and 
gave me their assistance in the conduct of the govern- 
ment. Mine was not a loud school, the "noisy mansion" 
of the Poet, although such schools, in the country, had 
not yet quite gone out of fashion ; recitations were made 
aloud, lessons were studied in silence, and ordinarily 
the school-room was a quiet place. There was only one 
large room, not even a lobby for hats and wraps ; these 
were hung upon wooden pins along the walls. Spell- 
ing, reading, writing and arithmetic were the studies 
in which nearly all my pupils were engaged ; to .teach- 
ing these my time was diligently and specially devoted. 
A lesson in either of these well learned and recited 
is really by far the most useful achievement in common 
school work. That these primary branches are pref- 
atory steps to what is called higher education is doubt- 
less of some moment, but what gives them their chief 
importance is that a knowledge of them is most needed 
in traveling the common highway of life, — that trod- 
den by the unknown and nameless multitude. The 
greatest good to the greatest number is a maxim im- 
perative, indispensable, in the work of popular educa- 
tion. A system which neglects these primary branches 
or does not bestow upon them its choicest and most 
continuous effort is, for the people, a failure. 

The art of reading in our schools and colleges of 
to-day seems to be wholly eclipsed by oratory. Yet, 



8o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

without any reference to the professional efforts of the 
lecture-room or theater, to read aloud well is a fine 
accomplishment ; to read aloud in public with the high- 
est degree of excellence is an acquirement much rarer 
than singing or speaking, so uncommon that I can 
number on the fingers of one hand all the readers of 
that quality whom I have heard during a long life. 
Faults in reading are shown in our courts, churches 
and other public assemblies, in manifold instances, — 
faults acquired or tolerated in school, and seldom in 
after life amended. 

Penmanship was, among the people here spoken of, 
at that time highly prized. The typewriter has since 
almost abolished manuscript, and gives us intimations 
that the use of pen and ink is to become obsolete. 

More than thirty years ago, in the village where I 
lived, a certain merchant of the old school received a 
typewritten letter from one of the eastern cities. It 
was the first he had ever seen. He read it and became 
rather indignant, sat down and immediately wrote to 
his correspondents that they need not go to the trouble 
of printing their letters to him : he could read writ- 
ing, if they knew how to write. And indeed the ma- 
chine has abolished personality in our correspondence. 
The blots, the erasures, the marks of what is called the 
hand, in the formation of the letters, are all missing 
in the printed sheet, leaving a blank not at all filled 
by the mere perusal of the text. 

In my school-room there was but one single desk, 
that of the master. There was a long desk-like shelv- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 8l 

ing which ran on one side of it where the pupils sat 
and wrote during the lesson hour. I always, at this 
time, gave the use of my desk to some one of the girl 
pupils, taking care to do this in rotation, so that each 
had the use of it. They were much pleased with this 
favor. 

The saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword," 
had perhaps more savor in it when these two imple- 
ments were not made of the same material. The steel 
or metal pen had not yet come into general use. 
Quills of various kinds were furnished by the pupils, 
and the making and mending of pens was a part of the 
regular duty and employment of the teacher. 

Arithmetic was taught by the use of the slate and 
blackboard ; the latter, however, was then c|uite recent ; 
all schools did not have this. The science of numbers 
is capable of a vast development, but in the common 
school it is chiefly taught in order that pupils may be 
able to cast and keep accounts and to compute interest, 
and thus become acquainted with the signs and pass- 
words necessary for initiation into the great Society 
of debtor and creditor. 

It is said that this society is as old as civilization, 
that it is more numerous than all the other lodges and 
orders in the world, and has existed under every form 
of government in every age and clime. Its system 
of debit and credit, like the science of arithmetic 
which it specially cultivates, is devoid of moral tend- 
encies ; concerning right or wrong it stands indiffer- 
ent. Loss it regards as the sole evil; its only good is 



82 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

gain. When this society is to have an end or why it 
ever had a beginning are questions only mooted by that 
daring class of skeptics who are bold enough to doubt 
whether the accumulation of gain is the highest and 
best aim of humanity, and who claim that there may 
be a loftier destiny than this for the individual, the 
nation and the race. 

But the schoolmaster, in any case, must accept the 
conditions of life as he finds them, and use diligence 
that his pupils may be well prepared to enter this 
society of which, sooner or later, they must become 
members. It is true, we may imagine a state of things 
in the future, in some coming age of reason and right- 
eousness, when money may be somewhat like the manna 
in the wilderness, of which he that gathered little had 
no lack, and he that gathered much had nothing over. 
Faith in the real progress of humanity may at least 
entertain the hope that mankind will be relieved from 
the mere wanton, wrongful mastery of money, as it 
has been emancipated from that of force. The illicit 
power of wealth is not so formidable or so strongly 
intrenched in the law and usage of the age as slavery 
was a hundred years ago. Our industrial systems 
may undergo improvement as marvelous as any of the 
recent inventions in the physical or material world. 
It is not wealth or the use of it, but the abuse of its 
power, that has wrought evil continually. 

The first session of our school closed with an exhi- 
bition of reading, dialogue and declamation, well at- 
tended by the people, with a spelling match in the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 83 

evening, which lasted until nearly midnight, wherein 
one of my scholars proved to be the successful cham- 
pion against all comers. The gentleman who pre- 
sided in the evening was a member of the legisla- 
ture; he told me afterward that he felt himself as 
much honored as if he had been acting as speaker 
of the House or president of the Senate. This sort 
of entertainment was then very popular, combining 
much amusement with useful instruction. The culture 
of the mental trait involved in this study of spelling 
is of no less importance than its usefulness to the 
reader or writer. To spell correctly requires attention 
to several minute particulars — to the letters compos- 
ing the word, and to the precise order in which each of 
them occurs. Perseverance in this practice forms a 
habit very necessary in all trades, occupations, and pro- 
fessions. Careful attention to details is the elementary 
guardian of life and property; frequently it has been 
the originator of many of the best things in our civili- 
zation. 

Some revival of the art and study of spelling, even 
if only for the purpose of training the youthful mind 
in the exercise of this practical trait, might be a useful 
reformation in our school world. 

A few days after the close of my first school I went 
to Logansport, taking with me several letters of com- 
mendation addressed to Mr. Daniel D. Pratt, an emi- 
nent attorney of that city, in whose office I was desir- 
ous of pursuing my law studies. Mr. Pratt read the 
letters and received me very kindly, said I was quite 



84 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

welcome to a place as student in the office, and that 
he would take pleasure in directing the course of my 
reading. Mr. Pratt was then, as a member of the bar, 
in the meridian of his fame. He had, and deserved, 
the highest professional reputation, and in fullest 
measure the confidence of the people. It was a priv- 
ilege to make my studies under the guidance of such 
a preceptor. This gentleman was considerate in his 
treatment of young men, and conscientious in the dis- 
charge of his duty toward them. Unless actually en- 
gaged in court he spent some hours every Saturday 
with his students, questioned them closely on the sub- 
ject upon which they were reading, answered himself 
questions upon the same, and sometimes advised that a 
particular section or chapter should be read over again, 
saying, by way of encouragement, that he had, when a 
student, taken the same course. He accepted no com- 
pensation for his services; the work which a student 
did in the office was perhaps of some assistance to him, 
but more to the student. 

After reading in the office of Mr. Pratt all summer 
and late into the fall, I was casting about for employ- 
ment as a teacher, when a very cordial invitation came 
to take charge of the school in the same district where 
I had taught the previous year. The invitation was im- 
mediately accepted. I was warmly welcomed upon 
my return both by patrons and pupils; we were in a 
few days engaged in the same course of study and duty 
as before, and at the close of the second term of school- 
teaching my place was resumed in the office at Logans- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 85 

port. During three years this same course was con- 
tinued : the winter was spent in teaching, always in the 
same district, and the remainder of the year in close 
intimacy with Chitty, Kent and Blackstone. 

The business of teaching, while engaged in it, I 
liked very well. No mere eye service was tendered to 
my patrons or to those whom they had committed to 
my charge. Moreover, I was myself a scholar, learned 
many things from my school, and am yet one. As it 
might be written : 

All the world's a school 

And all the men and women merely scholars. 

Having completed the third term as schoolmaster 
I went to Logansport a few days afterward, made a 
review of my law reading, and applied for admission 
to the bar. The examination lasted three hours. The 
report thereof being favorable, my name was entered 
upon the roll of attorneys and a certificate of admission 
was given me, which bears date April fourteenth, 1849. 
I was yet in my twenty-second year. Before this some 
conference had occurred between Mr. Pratt and myself 
concerning a suitable location to commence the prac- 
tice. He had told me of a large county lying directly 
west of the one in which he resided, where there was 
no resident attorney. It was, as he stated, a county 
of rich land, and although very sparsely settled, would 
become at no distant day wealthy and populous; he 
thought it was an eligible place for a beginner. Soon 
after my admission I took a livery conveyance and 



86 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

was driven to the capital of White County. On the 
day after my arrival, an entire stranger, I called upon 
and delivered to three gentlemen residing there my let- 
ters of introduction, thus commencing an acquaintance 
not yet ended, and a residence of many years. 

The oldest towns in our state have grown up around 
frontier military or trading posts, like Vincennes and 
Fort Wayne, and have now in this new country ac- 
quired some character for antiquity. They were Eng- 
lish towns, or French towns, long before the existence 
of the state or territory, and some of them, occupying 
the site of former Indian villages, had been, perhaps 
for centuries, places of human habitation. Another 
class of our towns sprang up in the neighborhood of 
portages, harbors and landings on the navigable rivers. 
Still a third class, and much the largest, were merely 
conventional in their origin, having been located by 
virtue of legislative enactment, as seats of county 
government and local centers for the administration of 
justice. These have grown up around the court-house. 

The town chosen as my place of residence was of 
this third class. It had been located and laid out as a 
county-seat in 1834, by commissioners appointed under 
an act of the general assembly, and had been named 
by them Monticello, in honor of the country-seat of 
Mr. Jefferson in Virginia. It was situated upon the 
west bank of the Tippecanoe, one of the most beautiful 
rivers in the United States. 

The place and its people were typical at that time 
of a large class of similar communities. It was not 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 87 

on the line of any railroad, canal or stage route, and 
was somewhat out of the world. The principal build- 
ing in town was a church, a plain square-looking 
structure of wood, capable of seating five hundred 
people. It belonged to the congregation of new school 
Presbyterians. A division of that numerous and in- 
fluential body had occurred, and had extended far and 
wide, even to this Zoar, but the line of severance was 
not here deeply marked. The people of the old school 
and the new dwelt together in perfect amity, al- 
ternated in the use of the church on Sabbath, and, 
though each of the congregations had its own minister, 
the two united in attendance and worship. In this 
church the sessions of the circuit court were held twice 
a year. The three judges occupied the pulpit, mem- 
bers of the bar sat in the chancel, the jury and specta- 
tors sat in the pews. The old frame court-house had 
become too small for this purpose, and the erection of a 
new one had been just begun by the laying of a stone 
foundation. 

The only other public building was the school-house ; 
it was a frame in form like the church, but not so 
large, and stood immediately upon the bank of the 
river. The playground sloped down to the water's 
edge — a very picturesque site though somewhat favor- 
able to truancy. There were three stores, places of 
general trade, whose proprietors went once a year to 
Cincinnati or New York to replenish their stock. It 
was well known when these merchants would start for 
the East, and they were charged with commissions, 



88 SKETCHES OF MY OWX TIMES 

cheerfully undertaken for their friends and patrons. 
Sometimes a fine bonnet, a hat, a new style of gun, 
a book, or a map, were sent for in this way, and once 
an old lady sent her album to be returned with the 
autograph of the mayor of the city of New York, 
which was done. 

There were four physicians and surgeons, each of 
whom was his own druggist, his office being fitted up 
with a little counter, weights and scales, where pre- 
scriptions were prepared. The two taverns stood 
nearly opposite to each other on ]\lain Street. Neither 
was palatial in external appearance; both were well 
supplied with means to satisfy the demands either of 
hunger or of thirst. Besides the other buildings men- 
tioned there were perhaps fifty dwellings — all frame — 
cozy, quiet homes, each with its clump of shade and 
fruit trees round it. There was no newspaper pub- 
lished in the county. The mail arrived once a week, 
save in time of high waters, when the carrier turned 
his horse about and retraced his steps to the other end 
of the star-route. The streets and sidewalks were 
left to the supervision of that ancient and unsalaried 
caretaker, the weather. All things were thus in a 
condition quite primitive; yet the sick got well, the 
wicked were convicted and converted, the wounded 
were healed and recovered, in as large a proportion as 
at present. 

The principal character in our vilage was the Squire. 
Of course the county officers lived there but they were 
not so well known nor nearly so often spoken of as the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 89 

old Squire. He had been a justice of the peace for 
a long time — in his case it proved to be a life office. 
He was a man of fifty years, a native of Culpepper 
County, Virginia, who had crossed the mountains on 
horseback when a youth just out of his apprentice- 
ship, and after traveling through the West for some 
time, settled down in our village. By trade he was 
a joiner and cabinet-maker, and his office and court 
were held in the carpenter-shop, a roomy apartment, 
where I often appeared for parties litigant. His books 
and papers were kept neatly in place, the docket entries 
were clear and legible, especially the signature ; indeed 
the squire may have been a little vain of his handwrit- 
ing — it was the only vanity he cherished. 

The margin of the docket page was reserved for 
costs ; here, as the case proceeded, his fees were entered 
with precision to the cent or half-cent ; but if he were 
strict in taxation he was liberal in collection; he would, 
at any time, throw off half his costs — all his costs — if 
he could only induce the parties to settle without fur- 
ther action. Great stress was laid upon the last word 
of his official title; peace, he said was better than pen- 
nies, peace was better than to gain a lawsuit or lose it ; 
it was his duty to make peace as well as to keep it. In 
religion he was a Presbyterian of the old school, a res- 
olute stickler for the Five Points of Calvin, though no 
proselytizer ; but when attacked, if he did not convince 
his assailant, he often reduced him to silence by a bat- 
tery of well chosen texts, aided by his imperturbable 
good humor and his unfeigned sincerity. If there 



90 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

were in his creed any lack of charity, it abounded in his 
life and conversation. Whenever he entered a final 
judgment for principal, interest and costs he closed it 
with the formula: "And the defendant in mercy," 
the form used at that time in such cases in the circuit 
court. I have frequently heard him repeating this 
clause over and over after he had written it, seeming 
to charm his ear with the words. He observed closely ; 
knew more of men than he said or than they thought, 
and although he was willing to overlook the follies 
of mankind and much commiserated their sins and 
shortcomings, yet he treated offenses against the stat- 
ute in such case made and provided with somewhat 
more of rigor. His probity had passed into a proverb : 
"As honest as the old Squire." In his prolonged 
service he had become well versed in the law of his 
jurisdiction, and was so thoroughly impartial in judg- 
ment that appeals from his court were seldom taken. 
In politics the Squire was always a Democrat and as 
such he was elected, by the people of a district com- 
posed of three counties, a delegate to the constitutional 
convention of 1850. He went to Indianapolis, served 
through the session of that body, was held in the 
highest esteem by its distinguished members, and when 
he returned from the capital resumed the duties of a 
magistrate, which he continued to discharge until his 
death. 

The praises justly due to the excellences of such a 
character, may in some degree be reflected upon the 
people and the constituency which he served, who, if 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES QI 

they did not all possess these qualities, yet appreciated 
them, and upon this consideration honored their fellow 
townsman with a lifelong trust and confidence. 

The best known citizen of the county at that time 
was William Miller Kenton, a son of Simon Kenton, 
the far-famed Indian fighter and hunter of Kentucky. 
His early youth had been spent on the farm and in 
attending his father in his numerous excursions in 
search of lands and game. The Indians where they 
lived then gave little trouble. After the age of six- 
teen the friends of his father, who were quite influ- 
ential, including all the elder congressmen and senators 
from his state, procured for young Kenton a com- 
mission in the navy. Disliking this employment, 
after a brief service as midshipman with the home 
squadron in the Gulf, he resigned. The same friends 
obtained for him an appointment to the military acad- 
emy at West Point, then a very primitive institution. 
Young Kenton here excelled in the drill and manual 
of arms, and in all athletic sports and exercises; but 
with books he failed, not from any lack of mental abil- 
ity, but from his innate aversion to regular study and 
application. After a certain time spent at the acad- 
emy he was honorably relieved from further attend- 
ance, went home, married, and with considerable 
means derived from his parental estate and other 
sources, removed to what was then Carroll, later 
White County, bought large tracts of government 
land, and was among the first settlers of the Grand 
Prairie. 



92 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

When I first knew him, Kenton Hved on a farm of 
a thousand acres, on what was cahed the range Hne. 
in the open prairie about four miles west from the 
Tippecanoe River, and owned another plantation of 
two thousand acres not far away. His house was a 
large one. a frame of two stories. Here he dispensed 
a profuse hospitality; no one was ever turned away 
from his door. Whites and Indians were equally wel- 
come. His Indian visitors were frequent, for he had 
settled in the country some time before their removal 
by the government to their new home in the \\'est. 
Some of these guests had seen and known his father; 
they loved the son for the father's sake, yet their at- 
tachment may have been partly due to the well stored 
pantry and kitchen which ministered to their wants. 

Besides farming Kenton was largely engaged in 
rearing cattle and live stock for the market, and among 
other things he gave a good deal of his time and at- 
tention to the prosecution of certain land claims, lo- 
cated in Kentucky, which he had inherited from his 
father's estate. Sometimes he visited that state on 
this business, and on one of these occasions a friend 
of mine accompanied him. They traveled by wagon 
to some way-station on the old INIadison railroad, in 
southern Indiana, not far from Columbus. There they 
took the cars for ]Madison. and went aboard a steamer 
for Maysville. The boat was named Simon Kenton. 
Mr. Kenton went to the captain's office to pay the fare. 
The gentleman in charge asked his name ; he told 
it ; asked if he was related to Simon Kenton of Ken- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 93 

tucky; he told him who he was. The gentleman de- 
cHned taking the fare, saying that Mr, Kenton could 
pay no money on that boat, but that they were grati- 
fied to have the pleasure and honor of his company. 
The news that a son of Simon Kenton was a passenger 
spread rapidly. The ladies and gentlemen of the cabin, 
the ojfficers of the vessel, all hands above and below 
deck, waited upon his levee. To use a phrase of the 
river, his hat zcas chalked for the whole trip. The 
same sort of ovation occurred at the hotel in Mays- 
ville. My friend was surprised at the enthusiasm 
with which the people greeted him as soon as his arrival 
was known. They spent about one week in various 
parts of the county, taking affidavits and in the exami- 
nation of ancient surveys and records in the public 
offices, and then returned home by the same route. 

The younger Kenton was a man of considerable 
reading and information, fond of the chase, a notable 
wrestler, runner and boxer, surpassing most of his 
contemporaries in these exercises ; but he was a person 
of exceedingly equable temper, and resorted not to 
force or violence save under extreme provocation. He, 
like his father before him, had lived in his youth so 
much among the Indians as to have contracted some- 
what of their habits. He was of a firm step, with a de- 
cided military bearing, yet inclined to the Indian gait. 
His eyes were large and brilliant, constantly in the 
attitude of expectancy, as if watching or awaiting 
some one. He was in politics a zealous Whig, a per- 
sonal friend and steadfast adherent of Henry Clay, 



94 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

who had also known and befriended his father in days 
of yore. 

As the representative of a district composed of a 
group of our northern counties, of which White was 
one, he had served, with much acceptance to his con- 
stituents, for several sessions in the general assembly ; 
he was a close friend and ally of Mr. Albert S. 
White's, and in the Whig caucus, it was said, had 
placed that gentleman's name in nomination for United 
States senator when he was chosen to that position. 
Kenton's conversation was very interesting, especially 
when it related to the life and adventures of his father. 

Simon Kenton, as his son told me, was once taken 
prisoner by the Indians, was stripped to the waist and 
painted black, as was their custom with captives 
doomed to be burned at the stake. At this juncture 
the notorious white renegade, Simon Girty, appeared 
on the scene. The two Simons had been friends in 
their youth; Kenton had in some perilous emergency 
saved Girty's life at the risk of his own. The renegade 
had not forgotten this ; he instantly interfered to stay 
further proceedings. Having great influence with the 
tribes he insisted that a council should be called which 
he attended, where he urged the proposition that Ken- 
ton's life should be spared, and that he should be held 
only as a prisoner of war for ransom. 

Here Mr. Kenton interrupted the story to ask 
whether I knew the way in which the ayes and noes 
were taken in an Indian council. I did not. He then 
proceeded to tell me. After their debate is fully ended, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 95 

the chief presiding at the council takes up his war-club 
and hands it to the nearest warrior sitting on his right. 
This warrior, if he disapproves the measure pend- 
ing passes the club in silence to the next ; if he favors 
it he strikes the ground a heavy blow with the club 
and then passes it. In this manner the club makes 
the entire circuit of those present. Resuming the story 
Mr. Kenton said that his father, bound and fastened 
to a tree, stood near enough to hear the council in the 
lodge-room, and being well acquainted with their cus- 
toms, he listened and carefully counted the club strokes. 
From these he knew that his friends were in the ma- 
jority and that his life was saved. He afterward es- 
caped. 

William M. Kenton was a very careful herdsman 
and feeder, a better judge of live stock than of the 
market. He often made unfortunate sales, and as his 
transactions were upon a large scale, met with serious 
losses. Toward the close of his life, in his old age, 
he fell into some pecuniary embarrassment. His 
creditors came in a cloud, all at once, to summon him 
with writs for indebtedness. The old pioneer made a 
gallant fight. Some of them he paid, with others he 
settled, many of them he defeated, and two or three 
of the most insolent claimants he literally whipped into 
terms of submission. He saved a large portion of his 
real estate and, though he did not long survive this 
campaign in the courts, spent his last days in com- 
fortable competency, and died in peace with all the 
world. 



96 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

His memory is yet highly respected, even fondly 
cherished, by the descendants of the friends and neigh- 
bors with whom he formerly associated, and whom he 
had often aided in the struggles of their early life on 
the frontier. 



CHAPTER SEVEN 

LAW PRACTICE JURY TRIAL IN THE PROBATE COURT 

ALBERT S. WHITE JOSEPH G. MARSHALL RUFUS 

A. LOCKWOOD THE CAMP-MEETING ELECTION TO 

THE LEGISLATURE THE GRAND PRAIRIE AND THE 

BLUE-STEM THE PRAIRIE FIRE THE NEED-BURN 

THE PRAIRIE FIRE-BRIGADE. 

On the third day after my arrival at Monticello I 
had a case before the justice. A large part of the 
county, lying west and southwest of the county-seat, 
was prairie, owned in extensive tracts of one, two or 
three thousand acres. The proprietors cultivated these 
plantations by tenantry, and the disputes arising be- 
tween landlord and tenant sometimes caused litigation. 
My first case was one of this kind, a suit of ejectment 
for possession, wherein I was for the tenant, and was 
successful. This led to other employments. Business 
in the commissioners' court, and that in the probate 
court, which met four times a year, came soon into my 
hands. 

I once diversified the usually quiet proceedings of 
the probate court by a jury trial. The case was that 
of an account against the estate of a decedent, who had 
resided in the timbered country along the river, for 

97 



98 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

clearing forty acres of land. Neither the administra- 
tor nor the judge wished to pass upon the question of 
the value of the work. There had been a special con- 
tract between the decedent and the claimant about 
the price of the work, but it was not in writing; no 
one knew anything about it but the plaintiff, who, 
under the statute, could not testify. The claimant was 
a man of frugal and laborious habits, a notable expert 
in chopping and clearing. He had spent all his days, 
as he said, in the back settlements, following the ever- 
shifting line of the frontier from Pennsylvania west- 
ward to his present home. He could read, but could 
not write, and kept his account of days' work by 
notches cut on a wooden stick or tally. After each 
sixth notch he left a smooth blank place; this marked 
the Sabbath, wherein he did no manner of work. He 
was very zealous in his religious faith, the keeper of a 
good conscience, and was a small landholder ; he had a 
wife and family of his own, and an aged mother whom 
he cared for and nourished in his house. She was an 
invalid, who, as the son told me in his pithy parlance, 
had been ailing for a long spell with a misery in her 
side. Also he told me that when a young man he had 
been overmuch given to drink ; that his mother had 
broken him of this habit by speech of words taken 
from the Book ; that then he had made a new start, and 
ever since he had been walking in the right way, in the 
pilgrimage of grace. 

My client had never before been concerned either as 
a party or witness in any legal procedure. When the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 99 

twelve jurymen were called and impaneled, before 
they were sworn, I asked him, in an undertone, if he 
was willing that these men should decide how the ac- 
count stood between himself and the estate. He an- 
swered in a voice loud enough to be heard by the by- 
standers: "No, I am not; they don't know anything 
about it." It was then explained to him that the wit- 
nesses present would state the facts fully. He replied 
that this was all Greek to him, and that I should go on 
and do what was right and needful. The evidence was 
then heard, and the jury, after a brief retirement, re- 
turned a verdict for a sum considerably larger than 
that agreed upon in the special contract. In a moment 
the claimant said to me : "These gentlemen have made 
a mistake; I do not want one cent more for the work 
than what I bargained for." I immediately rose, stated 
the circumstances, after which a remitter was entered 
for the excess, and judgment was rendered for the 
lesser sum. The judge of the court, himself a farmer, 
in making the final order, said a few plain words in 
praise of the plaintiff's action; spoke of it as an ex- 
ample which other claimants against decedents' es- 
tates ought to follow. My stalwart client, in his native 
modesty and diffidence, blushed like a young school- 
girl at this public mention of his merits. 

Mr. Albert S. White appeared only once in the 
White circuit court — it was at the second term after 
my admission. He came to present an argument upon 
a demurrer pending in an important cause which had 
been brought to our county on change of venue. He 

LofC. 



lOO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Spoke more than an hour. There was a large audience 
and a full bench, though upon mere questions of law 
the two associate judges seldom acted. Every one 
liked to hear Mr. White. He had a very copious and 
accurate command of legal terms and phraseology. 
The case involved the construction of a will, and when 
he spoke of real estate he used the word devise; when 
of personalty, the word bequeath; and he never con- 
fused them. His own position was always defined in 
language measured, precise and deliberate, with cour- 
teous deference to the court, implied even more than 
expressed, in his tone and manner. In criticizing the 
position of opposing counsel, he was trenchant, severe, 
but classic and ornate. He had an elegant way of 
transposing maxims and cases cited by the adverse 
party to his own advantage, which had all the effect of 
surprise or accident. 

At the close of his argument he was complimented 
in high terms from the bench and by the attorneys in 
attendance. I went forward, among others, and 
ofifered my hand, giving my name. He recognized me 
in the friendliest manner, as the school-boy of his for- 
mer acquaintance. "Why," said he, "here is a meet- 
ing of Alpha and Omega; you are commencing your 
professional course, and I am just closing mine." He 
told me that he had become president of a railroad 
company recently organized in his city, which required 
all his time and attention; that he had given up the 
practice of the law, and did not think he should ever 
appear in another case. I was invited to call on him at 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES lOI 

his room, and I called in the evening. He inquired 
about my previous occupation and said he was glad I 
had been engaged in teaching in the country. The 
business men about a town who know and become ac- 
quainted with a young man as a schoolmaster seem to 
entertain a kind of misgiving as to his ability for any 
other pursuit. If he becomes a lawyer they avoid 
him ; they are unwilling to consult him in their affairs ; 
they think there is a sort of dust of incapacity that set- 
tles upon a school teacher, not to be brushed off ; but a 
teacher in the country is not so much subject to this 
disparagement. 

Kindly directing the conversation to those things 
most interesting to myself, he gave me an account of 
some of his early experience in the law practice, in 
Rushville and in Paoli, in the county of Orange, where 
he had, as a young man, for a time labored in the pro- 
fession. 

While a student at law I once heard Mr. Rufus A. 
Lockwood, of Lafayette, then recognized as the leader 
of the bar in our state. It was a case of homicide, 
in which the defendant was charged with murder. 
The attorney for the state and prominent counsel who 
had been employed to assist him had addressed the jury 
at length in support of the indictment. Mr. Lockwood 
rose to reply. He spoke three hours. It was a superb 
argument, in diction, style and delivery. I had the 
pleasure some time afterward of hearing Mr. Joseph 
G. Marshall, and was somewhat reminded by him of 
Mr. Lockwood; but these highly accomplished advo- 



I02 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

cates afforded rather matter for contrast than compar- 
ison. Marshall's argument from first to last was a 
splendid conflagration; that of Lockwood, a slower, 
more consuming fire. While Mr. Lockwood was 
speaking, in the case mentioned, I tried very hard to 
recall some of the things which had been said for the 
prosecution by the other side, but found it impossible to 
do so ; even the recollection of them had been for the 
time benumbed. The jury, I presume, were affected in 
the same manner ; after a brief retirement they returned 
a verdict of acquittal. Public opinion also soon veered 
round to universal acquiescence in the result. This was 
one of the finest attributes or characteristics of Mr. 
Lockwood's advocacy ; it was followed by consequences 
beyond the verdict, permanent and lasting in the com- 
munity where the trial had occurred. 

Very soon after this Mr. Lockwood left our state, 
removing to California, where he resided for some 
years, always, however, with the intention of return- 
ing. An old acquaintance of mine, a former client of 
Lockwood's, who had been in California, gave me an 
account of a call he made on the distinguished counsel 
while in San Francisco. He had some difficulty in 
finding him ; at last he entered a room upstairs, 
where he saw Lockwood sitting alone. In the apart- 
ment were three large tables, one of which was cov- 
ered with maps and furnished with ruler, squares and 
compass ; another with mineral ores, placer and drift, in 
specimens carefully labeled ; the third with books, 
Spanish and English, piled in separate heaps. After a 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES IO3 

long conversation about former times in Indiana, the 
caller asked Mr. Lockwood why he did not put up a 
sign or advertise his place of business in the city. Mr. 
Lockwood replied that he was employed in a case 
which involved many millions of mining property ; that 
the case required the study not only of law but also of 
metallurgy and topography, sufficient to occupy his 
whole time; that he had already received a liberal re- 
tainer, to be followed by a full fee for future services 
in any event, and by such a handsome contingency in 
case of success that he would no longer need clients or 
business. 

This case was closed after full litigation, Mr. Lock- 
wood receiving a munificent but justly earned compen- 
sation for his services; he had been retained in it be- 
fore leaving Indiana, and was not unknown on the 
Pacific coast. He spent some time in Australia, where 
he astonished the judges and jurors of that country by 
appearing in the guise of a shepherd who had saun- 
tered into court from his cabin in the Bush. 

Having accomplished the purpose of his residence in 
California, he started upon the journey to his home in 
Indiana. He traveled by the route of the Isthmus, had 
crossed it from Panama to the Atlantic side ; there he 
embarked upon the steamship Central America, and 
perished, with many others, when that ill-fated vessel 
foundered during a storm at sea. 

His was a marvelous career, wholly professional, 
unaided by any political influence, by social or ancestral 
prestige. There has been, as I think, nothing like it 



I04 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

since; perhaps the nearest approach to it was the suc- 
cess of Mr. Judah P. Benjamin in the English courts 
at London after the faU of the southern Confederacy. 

Our townspeople frequently attended camp-meeting. 
We went as visitors, not as campers ; the latter stayed 
and lived upon the camp-ground during the time the 
meeting was in progress, which lasted always a week, 
sometimes longer. The camp-ground was made near a 
creek or river and in the shadiest woods. Attendance 
at these meetings was large ; the people came on horse- 
back and in covered wagons, sometimes from a distance 
of forty or fifty miles. Some of them brought tents ; 
many, however, lodged and slept in their wagons. 
They usually carried with them cooked provisions, but 
there were always coffee-fires built along the outer edge 
of the ground for those who wished to make use of 
them. Horses and wagons were corralled roughly in 
the shape of a horseshoe, at the open end of which was 
the preacher's stand, and in front of it the mourners' 
seat or bench. The ground beyond this to the line of 
the wagons was filled with seats, temporarily made with 
planks and logs, except a vacant space around the stand. 
The camp at night was lighted by lanterns and by 
blazing bark or twigs, placed upon small earth-covered 
platforms, and supported by wooden tripods of proper 
height ; these fires were replenished from time to time 
by the watchers. 

The leading event of a day in camp was the eleven 
o'clock sermon, usually prepared for the occasion. 
Afternoon service was less formal ; it commenced with 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES IO5 

the band-shake. All standing, you turned to the right 
and then to the left, shaking hands with whosoever 
stood next you. Then the testimonies were called for ; 
any one in the audience rose and repeated some short 
verse or clause from the Bible; forty or fifty testi- 
monies would thus be delivered within half an hour. 
Comments were made briefly upon one or more of these 
texts by the ministers in the stand until the audience 
was dismissed for supper. 

In the evening there was a short discourse, followed 
by prayers and fervid exhortations. The mourners or 
seekers gathered around the preacher's stand, the elder 
members of the church mingling with them. Their 
utterances were loud, irregular and much broken ; there 
were devout ejaculations, singing and shouting. Those 
that took part in these exercises became greatly excited, 
forgetful of others, of the audience and its presence. 
Women were frequent participants. I have known 
several staid, modest and matronly housekeepers, who 
were spoken of as pretty shouters, not in any sort of de- 
rision, but with respectful deference, from the order 
and decorum which they manifested in this part of their 
devotions. The people of those days in simple faith 
accredited these things as gifts or visitations of the 
Holy Spirit, 1)estowed upon those who led a pure and 
blameless life — upon those always and none besides. 
Often camp-meetings were held year after year in the 
same place, some site favored by abundance of shade 
and water. They took place in the latter part of the 
season, in August or September, when the roads were 



I06 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

at their best and the weather fair, in our part of the 
state mainly under the auspices of two communions, 
the Methodists and the New Lights. 

The most prominent leader in these religious move- 
ments among the New Lights was a Kentuckian, an old 
man of three score years, but of robust figure and 
strong muscular development. He was born and 
reared in the mountain region of his native state. His 
youth was wild and froward; he had been a noted 
boxer and fighter. In a famous battle, wherein he had 
been victor against one of the mountain bullies, he had 
lost an eye ; but the one he had served him well ; he 
read without glasses the fine print of the little Testa- 
ment and hymn-book which he used in his ministra- 
tions. 

He owned a good farm, well stocked and tilled. He 
said he was a farmer by trade, a preacher by call- 
ing. A few rude fellows of the baser sort had at- 
tempted at first to disturb his meetings ; some of these 
had become zealous converts ; the rest were careful not 
to incur his displeasure. He had a very striking way of 
enforcing order against trespassers in the congrega- 
tion. Strange liberties he took with grammar and pro- 
nunciation in his discourses, yet none of his fellow la- 
borers impressed an audience as he did. He had the 
moving accent of conviction, speaking in tones of deep 
contrition of the sins of his youth ; the hearers followed 
him both in his sorrow and repentance. Troops of 
friends and brethren gathered round him wherever he 
sojourned; they called him father, out of pure natural 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES lOJ 

affection. He was always plainly but neatly dressed 
in the homespun garb of the country. Belonging to an 
ancient and honorable order, yet he wore no insignia 
or regalia ; he had been for years a member of the So- 
ciety of Turners — those mentioned by the prophet: 
"They that turn, that turn many to righteousness shall 
shine as the stars for ever and ever." 

These camp-meetings usually closed at midnight of 
the last day with the singing of some old familiar 
hymn, in which the whole congregation joined. In- 
ured by the practice of the week before, they kept time 
and tune in unison ; the volume of sound was vast and 
imposing; the echo rebounding from the neighboring 
woods, heard in the darkness at the close of each verse, 
impressed one almost with the conviction that the 
voices were not all of this world, — that the choir in- 
visible seemed to take part in the responses. 

Next morning they took breakfast on the camp- 
ground, the wagons were packed, good-bys were said 
and they started on the journey for their homes. 
There was nothing of hurry or confusion in their de- 
parture, no car time to make, no telegrams to excite or 
disturb, nothing to distract attention from the memo- 
ries of that season of worship whose closing hours 
they had witnessed. 

Our farmers upon the prairie at that time were also 
herders and graziers on a large scale. The open un- 
fenced prairie, adjoining their plantations, called "the 
range," afforded pasturage rich and plentiful. It was 
their custom to graze and herd, upon contract, cattle 



I08 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

in large quantities, driven in from eastern Indiana, 
from Ohio and from western Pennsylvania ; these herds 
having grazed during the summer and fall upon the 
range, were taken thence by their owners into the mar- 
ket. One of these prairie herdsmen having had, at the 
close of the season, a dispute with the owners of cer- 
tain cattle about the amount of his bill, which they re- 
fused to pay, impounded the whole herd, declined to 
deliver it, and forcibly prevented the sheriff from serv- 
ing a writ of replevin, which they had issued to re- 
cover possession. 

At this juncture mutual friends of the parties in- 
tervened, the herder's bill was settled and paid upon 
compromise and the cattle were given up to their own- 
ers. Some months after this, however, the grand jury 
returned an indictment against the herder and a num- 
ber of his tenants and friends who had aided him in 
resisting the process of the sheriff. These men came to 
me about a defense to this prosecution. I told them 
there was no legal defense, and advised them to plead 
guilty; they insisted that a defense should be made at 
all hazards. When the case came on for trial a de- 
fense was made accordingly. The sympathy of the 
jury was manifestly with our side, but the judge, very 
correctly, too, instructed them that the agistor or 
herder of cattle, at common law, had no lien upon them 
for the payment of his charges; that the defendants 
were trespassers from the beginning. They were all 
convicted and fined. When the farmer came to settle 
and pay his account with me he asked if there was no 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES lOQ 

way by which such an unjust and outlandish law could 
be changed. I answered that the legislature had the 
power, if they would exercise it, to give the herder o*r 
feeder of cattle a lien upon the stock in his possession 
for the payment of his charges, as the statute gave a 
lien to mechanics upon a building in process of erec- 
tion. Nothing more was thought or said by me upon 
the subject. 

In the spring of 1852 this farmer client of mine came 
into the office, with six others, all prominent herders 
and graziers upon the prairie range. My client was a 
Whig; of the others three were Whigs and three were 
Democrats. They all urged that I should become a 
candidate for the legislature upon the platform of a 
new cattle-lien law. At first their request was declined ; 
they were reminded that I was a Democrat, and that 
the district composed of the counties of White and 
Benton was Whig by a considerable majority; that I 
did not wish to abandon business during the winter. 
Other reasons were given for refusal, but they per- 
sisted, and I consented to make the race. The Demo- 
cratic convention of the two counties met that year at 
Oxford, the county-seat of Benton; and indeed the 
county of Benton was entitled to the nomination by ro- 
tation; nevertheless I was nominated by acclamation. 
The convention had been largely attended by the 
cattlemen of the prairie region, and both Whigs and 
Democrats were cordially pledged to my support. 
As the election was to be held in October, the active 
compaign did not begin until a later period. During 



IIO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the summer, however, an event occurred very unfortu- 
nate for the Democratic party and adverse to my suc- 
cess — the fatal ihness of Mr. James Whitcomb, one of 
the senators from our state, a man of highest order of 
character and abihty, who died in October, 1852. His 
death, deeply deplored, caused a vacancy in the Senate, 
to be filled by a successor chosen by the legislature, for 
a seat in which I had become a candidate. The ques- 
tion of the anticipated senatorial election, suddenly 
thrust into the campaign, had a tendency to draw the 
lines of the party more rigidly, and the leaders of the 
opposition urged, with frequent emphasis, that under 
these circumstances a Whig district ought to elect a 
Whig representative. 

When the time came for active work I made a close 
personal canvass of the constituency in both counties, 
and also held public joint discussions with my compet- 
itor at various places. It was a presidential year, an- 
other circumstance unfavorable to me ; we debated the 
general issues between the parties in these meetings, 
but I always used a good deal of my allotted time in 
discussing the subject of the cattle-lien law, as it was 
called, insisting upon the justice and necessity of such 
legislation. 

Travel in this campaign was made altogether upon 
horseback. A large part of the country to be canvassed 
lay in the Grand Prairie. There were miles of uncul- 
tivated land, wholly treeless, without even a bush to 
make a riding whip, but the growth of the grass was so 
rank and close that a wheeled vehicle would have been 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES III 

a useless encumbrance. I met, and accompanied to 
their appointments in the two counties, the Whig and 
Democratic candidates for Congress, who traveled to- 
gether on horseback, and who also had joint discus- 
sions. This was the usual method of making the cam- 
paign, and continued to be such for many years after- 
ward. 

There were several reasons against the probability 
of my success in this candidacy, some of which have 
been noted ; but I was elected and thus became a mem- 
ber of the first biennial general assembly convened un- 
der what was then called the new constitution. 

It was during this campaign of 1852 that I became 
really acquainted with the prairie and its people. The 
country was very sparsely settled ; there were few 
roads, and the traveler might ride for hours without 
meeting or seeing any one ; he directed his course by 
the sun, or, if it were a cloudy day, by the distant 
groves, which looked like islands in this vast expanse 
of grassy plain. Sometimes he traveled in solitude a 
tract where he could not see timber at all, like the sailor 
out of sight of land ; the landscape in every direction 
was bounded by a horizon wherein nothing appeared 
but the green below and the blue above. The surface 
was generally level, broken only by slight undulations, 
and had the monotony of an ocean view with the same 
pleasing variety — whenever the wind blew, the tall 
grass rippled, fell and rose again in marvelous simili- 
tude to the sea. When the sun was not to be seen, and 
the weather was so hazy that the grove^ were not vis- 



112 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ible, the stranger had better retrace his steps; to be 
lost on the prairie was by no means a pleasant ex- 
perience. 

The most notable plant in these great natural 
meadows was the blue-joint grass, so called from the 
color of its stalk and leaves, which was dark green 
with a bluish tint near the ground. It was indigenous 
to the prairie, not found in the woodlands. The blue- 
stem ordinarily grew to the height of a man's shoulder, 
sometimes so tall as to conceal a man on horseback. 
Cattle, sheep and horses were all fond of it ; during the 
whole growing season and until late in the fall it was 
tender, juicy and succulent; cut and cured as hay, it 
was by many thought to be as good as the best varie- 
ties of the cultivated grasses. It was not at all like 
the swamp or marsh grass, being found only on rich 
and comparatively dry land. The acreage of this wild 
meadow growth was coextensive with the prairie. 

Although the range was pastured by numerous and 
large herds, there were many miles of blue-stem that 
seemed never to have been grazed upon save by the 
deer. When the deer, tempted by curiosity more than 
appetite, made a visit to the fields and clearings in the 
timber, a chase followed. As long as the pursuit was 
confined to the woods he might be overtaken or 
brought to bay; but when the stag reached the open 
prairie he ran no longer; he jumped, he leaped twenty 
or thirty feet at a bound ; the hounds entangled in the 
long thick grass soon lost both scent and sight, and the 
game escaped.^ The prairie was a grand resort for 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES II3 

game, both great and small, but it was hard to draw 
the cover. 

The blue-stem was a free-born native of the soil. It 
would endure burning and thrived lustily after its cre- 
mation, but it could not bear captivity. It scorned 
inclosure, resented being too often trodden under foot, 
and brooked not cultivation in any form. Thus when 
fields and fences came into vogue it soon disappeared 
and has now become almost extinct. It was this grass, 
the blue-stem, which furnished fuel for the prairie fires. 
In the fall it ripened, becoming very light and dry, 
changing its color to a grayish white. Here then were 
thousands of acres of highly combustible material, 
awaiting only the touch of the torch. Sometimes the 
fires originated by accident, sometimes by design. A 
herdsman intending to burn ofif a certain space to im- 
prove the pasturage, set out fire for that purpose ; but 
if it escaped from his control, and were carried by the 
wind, it spread with amazing rapidity, and became 
then what was called a wild fire. A wild fire on the 
open prairie was a magnificent spectacle, combining all 
the elements of terror and grandeur. It compared with 
a fire in the woods or in a city as Niagara compares 
with the waterfall of a mill-dam. In advance of it was 
heard a loud roar, sullen and incessant; volumes of 
smoke arose from its burning front, obscuring the light 
of the sun, clothing the whole landscape at midday for 
miles in the somber hues of twilight; huge masses of 
flame, in startling form and figure, leaped high into the 
air; innumerable" glowing sparks, as if from a furnace, 



114 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

flew before it and fell on the dry grass like flakes of 
fiery snow. 

When this blazing peril threatened a farm, the 
neighbors mustered a fire-brigade in hot haste. They 
came, riding at full speed ; they had seen the signal at 
a distance and knew by the course of the wind what 
place was threatened. These firemen were each 
equipped with a pair of buckskin gloves and a bundle 
of long twigs made into what was called a brush 
or fire broom. A sort of skirmish line was quickly 
formed between the premises in danger and the coming 
fire. These skirmishers rapidly set out fires along their 
whole line, which spread toward the place to be pro- 
tected ; but these fires were kept carefully under man- 
agement until they had consumed all the grass in a 
space of sufficient width, when they were whipped out 
with the brush. The firemen, taking their stations at 
intervals along the inside of the edge of the space thus 
burned off, waited for the coming of the wild fire. The 
heat from it became intense, the smoke was dense and 
stifling; but they remained at their post. When the 
wild fire reached the outer line of the "need-burn," as 
the burnt-off space was called, it halted. Having noth- 
ing to feed upon it died down, and the flames gradually 
subsided. The only danger then was from the sparks, 
which, borne by the wind, now risen to a gale, were 
sometimes carried clear over the need-burn into the 
dry grass beyond. The skirmishers, at this time, did 
lively work. They watched where the sparks fell, and 
wherever a blaze appeared they whipped it out. After 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES II5 

a while the fire in front ceased burning, the sparks com- 
ing from it were all black and dead, the danger point 
was passed, and the neighbors dispersed to their homes. 

This service of the prairie fire-brigade was one of 
hard work and of some danger, requiring a quick eye, 
rapid movement, presence of mind and much endur- 
ance. The thirst, aggravated by the heat and smoke, 
became almost intolerable. Having been once or twice 
engaged as a volunteer in such a contest, I can speak 
somewhat as to its character. I have, in some sudden 
emergency, heard even of women working on the fire- 
line, but usually they were sent with the children to a 
place of safety. 

Charred remains of a great prairie fire were, to the 
beholder, more impressive than the ruins of any other 
conflagration. Let him take his position near the cen- 
ter of a burn of three or four thousand acres and look 
round him. He might well fancy that the whole earth 
was hidden beneath the pall. Here and there, rarely, 
he might see a white spot on the blackened surface ; 
this was a small patch of the dry blue-stem which, by 
some inconceivable caprice of the wind, had been left 
untouched by the flames. Such a sight was more re- 
markable, as it was more unaccountable, than that of 
the famous Ogden house among the fire ruins of Chi- 
cago. The escape of either seemed a miracle, but that 
of the tiny grass-plot was the greater. 



CHAPTER EIGHT 

THE FARMER ON THE PRAIRIE THE PRAIRIE GROVE 

HOMESTEAD SENATOR PETTIT MR. JUSTICE 

BLACKFORD THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1 853. 

The pioneer upon the prairie differed somewhat in 
his character and surroundings from the settler in the 
timbered lands. The freeholder of the prairie was com- 
paratively a man of wealth. Forty, eighty, or one hun- 
dred and sixty acres made for him no farm. A half- 
section was a small plantation, and a whole section, six 
hundred and forty acres, was not a large one. Two or 
three adjoining sections, and sometimes more, were 
found in the same estate. The material for his build- 
ings, firewood and fencing, were brought from a dis- 
tance at a considerable outlay of time and money. His 
dwelling was a frame — a log cabin in the open prairie 
would have been a costly structure. It was a large, 
substantial building, and often stood upon a stone 
foundation, made of the thinly scattered boulders 
gathered from the fields. His chimney was built of 
these also, topped out with brick. His field fences were 
mere skeletons of one or two rails or planks, — a sort of 
notice or caution to trespassers ; frequently he had hun- 
dreds of acres of corn or other crops growing unin- 

116 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES llj 

closed upon the prairie; his swine were penned, his 
cattle and sheep were closely watched and carefully 
herded, so that they committed no depredations. 

The old settler upon the prairie was not a tree- 
planter. He rather affected to dislike shade, except that 
afforded by his own house and its porches, which were 
always built with due reference to the course of the 
wind and sun. He cared not much for the garden — or- 
dinary vegetables he raised as field-crops ; to raise flow- 
ers, when the landscape round him teemed in summer 
with flowers of every hue and color, he thought to be 
a useless and needless occupation. His products, ex- 
cept wheat, were marketed at home, and sold on the 
place. He did not even gather his corn, save enough 
for his own use ; he sold it when ripe by the acre, on 
the stalk in the field, to some of the cattle dealers who 
turned in on it, and thus fattened their stock for the 
market ; oats and rye were frequently disposed of in the 
same manner. His wool clip was purchased in the 
fleece, usually by the same customer, year after year, 
who visited the plantation for that purpose. 

The prairie farmer did not often go to town ; when 
he went there he took his wagon and part of his fam- 
ily, made his stay at the tavern of two or three days, 
which he spent in milling and shopping. His pur- 
chases were large ; he bought and sold with somewhat 
of a free hand. His views of life and motives of ac- 
tion were broader, more mobile than those of the set- 
tler in the clearing among the timber. He was less 
staid, less conservative, more given to novelties both 



Il8 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of practice and opinion. The modern improvements in 
agricultural machinery were first largely tested and 
adopted in the prairie region of the state. 

In early times the chief enemies of the prairie hus- 
bandman were the deer and wolves. The deer came 
often in large numbers to browse upon the growing 
crops. He lay in wait for and slaughtered them 
without mercy. He set no great store by venison ; only 
the choice parts were saved, and the rest was flung to 
the dogs. The wolves were trapped or poisoned ; when 
they became very troublesome he organized with his 
neighbors a circular hunt, and destroyed whole gangs 
of these marauders in a single day. Most of his time 
was spent at home, about the place, his herds and crops 
needing daily care and labor. Of course, his conversa- 
tion was largely of bullocks ; he could tell a steer by its 
countenance, as one man distinguishes another by his 
face; but he was not ignorant or unmindful of other 
things. His neighbors were in sight, but far off, and 
when he went to church it was to the school-house in 
the grove, miles away; he went only in pleasant 
weather; wife and children could not bear the freezing 
winds encountered in the long drive across the prairie 
in winter. 

The most fortunate of the first settlers on the prairie 
was one who had entered a tract of land upon which 
stood a grove. These fortunate proprietors were not 
very numerous — there were not many groves; they 
were as well known as the towns or villages, and all 
had names. Some of them were named from the first 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I IQ 

settlers in them, some from the kind of timber which 
grew there, as Wahiut or Hickory; others from their 
form or contour, as Long Grove, Round Grove. They 
were of different areas, the largest possibly including a 
whole section ; they were separated from each other by 
many miles, and by a still greater distance from the 
mainland of the timbered country. Prairie groves were 
of no recent origin ; large trees were found in them of 
full size and height, and the surface was strewn with 
the decayed trunks and branches of former generations 
which had died and fallen from natural causes. These 
oases sometimes stood upon a tract slightly elevated, 
but oftener on the same level with the open plain 
around them. 

The grove was a sort of enigma or problem in the 
natural history of the country, various causes being as- 
signed for its origin. The most probable account was 
that they had been the former sites of Indian encamp- 
ments, made during the hunting season in the fall ; not 
of Indian villages — these were always located near^ a 
lake or watercourse — but places of temporary sojourn 
to which they carried their stock of walnuts and other 
food, which they would bury in the ground for safe- 
keeping during their absence in the pursuit of game. 
Remnants of such a cache, left in the earth by a careless 
or sudden departure would, of course, germinate and 
would be the beginning of the grove. A fact which 
strongly supports this theory is that these forest islands 
were usually composed of nut-bearing trees, frequently 
of no other. 



I20 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

A very singular circumstance about the prairie grove 
was its fixed limit or boundary. The oldest settlers in 
that part of the country, who had lived there during 
the period of a generation, related that the timber had 
never encroached upon the prairie, its growth and re- 
newal being wholly interior. I have, myself, noticed 
fringes of hazel, huckleberry and alder growing along 
the outside, but these were evidently recent plantings 
of those volunteer seedsmen, the birds and the squir- 
rels, who, after the trees in the grove had grown, made 
their haunts and homes in its vicinity. As the timber 
did not encroach upon the prairie, so the prairie did not 
invade the timber; this natural law of neutrality was 
necessary to its very life and existence. If the prairie 
grass had spread out over the surface of the grove, as 
it did elsewhere, the trees would have been destroyed by 
fire. These fires on the prairie were quite as frequent 
in the time of the Indian occupancy as during the sub- 
sequent settlement of the country by the whites. Noth- 
ing grew in the grove, usually, except seedlings and 
second growth of the older trees in it — very little grass 
or underbrush of any kind ; it was an open woodland. 

The owner of a grove farm lived in the grove. His 
house, barn and other buildings were made of boards. 
He was chary of his woods. He culled out carefully his 
saw-timber, hauled it to the mill and brought it back in 
the form of lumber. The trees to be used for fencing 
or fire-wood were every year selected and marked ; he 
trimmed the younger saplings, somewhat as a man 
would trim his orchard. His arable lands lay round 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 121 

him read}^ for the plow, and the long furrow, drawn 
for a mile across the level prairie, turned up in its 
course no stone or pebble larger than a hazelnut. These 
chieftains of the prairie led really a dual-life. They 
dwelt in the forest, farmed in the plain. The house of 
such a farmer was a frame of twQ stories; the rooms 
were plainly furnished, but airy and well lighted. He 
had his orchard, garden and shrubbery. The grove 
was a friendly wind-break, in whose shelter these pros- 
pered. He had all things and abounded. In the long, 
hard winter he would allow his neighbors who lived in 
the open to cut and take fuel from the grove, saying 
that he should not miss the wood so much as the women 
and children ; that they should not suffer from the cold. 
Much of his comfort, many of his duties, arose from 
contrast. He always gave a parcel of ground in the 
grove, near the outskirts, for a school-house and fur- 
nished the lumber to build it. This school-house and 
the grounds about it were used for other public pur- 
poses, among these, for religious worship. Sometimes 
the owner of the grove-farm would entertain at his 
table all who came to the meeting, especially if the pre- 
siding elder whom he liked attended and preached 
upon the occasion. He became, merely from the site 
and character of his possessions, a social, often a polit- 
ical leader in the country side, but this leadership had 
nothing in it of harshness or oppression. 

In 1 85 1, as now remembered, I had to take the depo- 
sition of a witness then lying ill at his house in the 
western part of Benton County, not far from the Illi- 



122 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

nois state line. The trip was a journey of two days on 
horseback, mostly through the open prairie range; it 
was made in the beginning of December. The deposi- 
tion was taken, and I had traveled nearly half-way 
home, reaching- a grove, with the owner of which I was 
well acquainted. The weather during the day had been 
clear, and if the night remained so I had determined to 
cross the prairie before stopping; but just as I rode 
into the grove it began to snow, and it was thoug^ht 
better to turn aside. I rode up to the farmhouse; my 
friend was glad to see me and the night was spent very 
comfortably, ^^'hen I arose in the morning five or six 
inches of snow had fallen, and the wind blew hard and 
cold ; but I was anxious to get home and spoke of going 
on toward town. ]\Iy host, after breakfast, took me 
up into the attic, where there was a sort of dormer- 
window, through which we looked out over the prairie. 
We could see plainly enough to the edge of the grove, 
but nothing beyond. The dry snow, tossed and driven 
by the wind, filled the whole atmosphere so thickly as 
to obscure everything, both earth and sky. 

My friend said that no one could travel in such 
weather, that one would certainly be lost and frozen 
on the range: that I must stay with him until the 
wind fell, and that he would be glad to have my 
company. I stayed while the storm lasted, all that day 
and the next, passing the time very pleasantly for a 
prisoner snow-bound. In the evening we played check- 
ers or backgammon; sometimes I read aloud to the 
family such things as they chose. 'My friend had not 



' SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I23 

many books, but they were of good quality and author- 
ship. In the daytime we went once or twice to look at 
the cattle and sheep housed in the woods by reason of 
stress of weather. 

On the morning of the third day of my sojourn the 
sun was shining brightly, the snow was thawing, the 
wind had fallen, and the prairie stretched far away, 
white and still as a frozen sea. I took leave of the hos- 
pitable inmates of the grove and resumed my journey. 

The prairie region in our state and the pastoral life 
incident to it continued without much change or inter- 
ruption until the year i860. After that time the rail- 
roads began to run across it in various directions ; this 
was followed by an ever increasing migration and by a 
rapid sale and subdivison of the lands. New roads and 
highways were established, paralleled by long lines of 
fence and hedge ; orchards and tree planting were gen- 
erally introduced ; so that this portion of the country 
does not at present differ very much in appearance 
from those parts cleared and improved from the orig- 
inal forest. A much larger number of people now in- 
habit this region than before, and perhaps live more 
happily than they could elsewhere. The old-fashioned 
patriarchal life of the i)rairie has disappeared among 
these changes; it was a condition of life for those who 
enjoyed it hardly capable of improvement. 

In my solitary rides across the range, fifty years ago, 
I used to think sometimes what a grand theater the 
prairie would have afforded for the operation of the 
feudal system, and to consider also the effects upon the 



124 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

system caused by its physical conformation. In this 
broad level plain extending to the Illinois line, and far 
toward the West beyond, neither sites nor material 
would have been found for the mountain fastnesses of 
the robber knights; the castle and the donjon sur- 
rounded by its stone walls of massive masonry could 
have had no existence. The feudal lord or baron must 
have had his residence in the grove in a mansion of 
wood or brick with fortifications of earthwork easily 
accessible and readily subject to assault or siege. The 
revolts of the tenantry against feudal oppression would 
have been much more formidable than they were in 
those countries where, during the Middle Ages, they 
so often occurred ; and although the even and uniform 
face of the country would have made a field very favor- 
able for the movements of cavalry, the chief military 
force of the time, yet when this force suffered a de- 
feat, as they frequently did from the bowmen and pike- 
men of that period, such a disaster would have been ir- 
retrievable. The armored riders upon their mail-clad 
steeds could not, by crossing a drawbridge, have found 
refuge and safety behind lofty bulwarks and bastions 
rock-built and founded. The consequence would have 
been that all questions arising between these military 
lords paramount and the people whom they ruled must 
have soon become the subjects of parley, treaty and 
negotiation. Charity and courtesy, those chivalrous 
virtues of professed knighthood, would have found 
larger opportunity for their exercise; public opinion 
would have obtained in some form an early and potent 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I25 

recognition; the whole civil policy would have been 
much ameliorated ; but even as thus amended and im- 
proved the system would have had a much briefer ex- 
istence than that which it attained in the countries of 
Europe where it so long prevailed. 

These were but passing fancies, yet still there might 
be traced a real though slight resemblance between the 
knight or baron, who was lord of the manor, and the 
large landed proprietor of the Grand Prairie. The 
source of such a proprietor's influence was like the 
baron's territorial, it was an appurtenance of his two 
or three thousand-acre farm. Like the baron, he had 
his following of retainers and dependents. Within 
the lines of this spacious freehold lived his tenants, 
his farm-hands, his herders and helpers; outside the 
bounds of his estate were his neighbors, at a distance 
from himself and from each other, small landowners, 
perhaps only squatters or preemptors who had not per- 
fected their titles. These all paid him a certain defer- 
ence, but it was a homage altogether voluntary; it de- 
pended on the good will of those who rendered it, 
which was very seldom lacking ; for in that far-off time 
the dwellers on the prairie, rich and poor alike, were 
noted for their observance of the genial duties of hos- 
pitality. 

The general assembly, to which I had been elected, 
met on Thursday after the first Monday in January, 
1853. Under the constitution of 1816 our legislature 
had met like Congress, on the first Monday in Decem- 
ber. The change in the month, under the new con- 



126 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

stitution, was made to place the holiday season, the 
week between Christmas and New Year's, outside of 
the legislative term; the change in the day of the week 
was made in deference to the Sabbath. Under the old 
law a member desiring to attend the organization on 
Monday, the first day >of the session, could not spend 
Sunday at home, nor could he spend it at the capital, 
except in the work of the caucus or conference. Mem- 
bers may now spend the Sunday before the session at 
home, and may travel from any part of the state in 
time to participate in the work of organization in the 
week-days preceding the opening of the session. 

I left home on Monday, riding on horseback to 
Lafayette ; my trunk followed in a wagon hauling 
grain to market in that city. On Tuesday morning 
I took the train on the railroad, then newly finished, 
from Lafayette to Indianapolis, and arrived there 
about noon. I was an entire stranger, this being my 
first visit to the capital. The place was distinctly 
marked as such. The State House, the mother branch 
of the State Bank, the Blind Asylum, and other public 
institutions, denoted this even more definitely than they 
now do, as they were so much larger in proportion to 
the surrounding buildings than at present. The man- 
ners, language and conversation of its inhabitants not 
only designated it as a capital but as our capital. In- 
dianapolis was then, and is yet, very much like the peo- 
ple who live in the country round it and have made 
it their seat of government. 

The first business of the legislature was to choose 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 27 

a United States senator in the place of Mr. Whitcomb, 
whose death has been already noted. The prominent 
competitors for the position were two — Mr. John Pet- 
tit and Doctor Graham N. Fitch. Doctor Fitch, whom 
I favored for the nomination, was then the member of 
Congress from our district, and was in every way 
worthy of such a promotion ; but it cost me no struggle 
to vote for Mr. Pettit when, after a close contest, he 
was chosen by the caucus and, in due course of pro- 
cedure, was elected as Mr. Whitcomb's successor. I 
had known Mr. Pettit for some years as an attorney 
and advocate ; his standing at the bar was high, his 
experience in public affairs had been considerable. He 
had been a member of the legislature, of the conven- 
tion, and of the House of Representatives in Congress, 
and district attorney of the United States before his 
candidacy for the Senate. In the campaign of 1852, 
just closed, he had, as elector at large, made an active 
canvass; his colleagues on the presidential ticket gave 
him valuable assistance in the senatorial contest. 

After his service in the Senate he became, succes- 
sively, chief justice of Kansas, judge of the court in our 
circuit, and, for several terms, a member of the su- 
preme court of the state. He had great ability upon the 
hustings, a winning suavity of manner when he chose 
to make use of it, much independence of spirit and such 
unblemished integrity and fidelitv in the discharge of 
official duties as commended him to the confidence of 
the people. He was one of the most perfect readers 
of instructions to a jury I ever heard. He read slowly, 



128 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

and the pauses, the emphasis and inflections of his voice 
were so well marked and so apposite, as both to in- 
terpret and to enforce the text. When, however, in- 
structions were given somewhat under compulsion of 
precedent or authority, not altogether agreeing with 
his own opinion, these were read with clearness and 
distinctness; not a word was omitted, but there was 
yet a curious subtone of query and unrest in the perusal. 
This difference of intonation was involuntary; he 
seemed to be, and was, wholly unconscious of it. No 
one, in a long judicial career, has left us a more plenary 
example of absolute impartiality and of the even- 
handed administration of justice than this, our first 
senator chosen after the adoption of the new constitu- 
tion. 

Among the persons upon whom I called during the 
session of the legislature, was Mr. Isaac Blackford. 
He had been for so long a period chief justice of the 
state, and his opinions in the published reports had 
been so much the subject of my reading and study, 
that I accounted it a privilege and favor even to see 
him. He was then, and yet remains, in the estimation 
of the world at large, the most eminent jurist of In- 
diana. A member of the bar and of the assembly, 
somewhat my senior, who was acquainted with Mr. 
Blackford, accompanied me in this call. We were re- 
ceived in the kindest manner. The room which we 
entered was in some disorder, books and papers lying 
scattered around it, some of them upon the floor ; our 
distinguished host said that he had been engaged in 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 29 

some work and had left the chips where they had fallen. 
After brief but cordial greetings we rose to retire, but 
he asked us to tarry, and seemed to be in the mood 
for conversation. - He told us that he was glad, to meet 
members of the bar as lawmakers ; he thought attor- 
neys ought not to shun legislative duties ; that a seat in 
the general assembly was a useful position, both for 
discipline and instruction. When the reports of the 
decisions were mentioned, now about to be concluded 
after his retirement from the bench, he failed not to 
give full credit to the genius and learning of his late 
colleagues, Mr. Dewey and Mr. Sullivan. He did not 
at all speak in disparagement of the future or of the 
recent changes which had largely affected his own 
position ; he spoke in the most hopeful terms of the 
system of an elective judiciary which had greatly 
altered the character of the court wherein he had so 
long presided. 

He had served as a representative from Knox 
County, and as a speaker of the house in the first gen- 
eral assembly held after the admission of the territory 
as a state, and he spoke in the frankest and kindliest 
manner of the men and times of the old capital — Cory- 
don, whence, as he jocosely remarked, he had been re- 
moved along with the archives and other state property, 
many years before, to the new seat of government. 
More than once he inclined to express the wish that he 
might again reside among the people of his old con- 
stituency in southern Indiana. 

Blackford was a man of strong intellectual caliber, 



130 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

a scholar of ripe culture, of commanding position, and 
the familiar associate of the highest and best men in 
contemporary circles in the state and elsewhere. He 
was thoroughly acquainted with the fathers and found- 
ers of our commonwealth, and thoroughly admired 
and honored them. His reputation was at that time, 
and yet is, world-wide. His reports of the opinions 
of our supreme court, published during his service, 
were cited as authority by the most eminent coun- 
sel in the highest tribunals of London, New York 
and Calcutta, wherever the common law prevails 
among English-speaking people. Much of this celeb- 
rity was due to the terseness of style, the profound 
erudition, and the strong incisive reasoning of these 
famous Indiana rescripts; yet it was also somewhat 
owing to the time and period of their publication. 
The procedure, principles and pleadings of the common 
law were then of almost universal application among 
the Anglo-Saxon race. In our state these were now 
to give place to a novel and different system. The 
new constitution, the civil and criminal code, the re- 
vision of former statutes, and the continuous legisla- 
tion, not even yet completed in accordance with this 
basis, at once demanded and has since very largely 
engrossed the attention and deliberation of our supreme 
court. Its jurisdiction has not been lessened, but the 
sphere of its reputation has been thus greatly dimin- 
ished. Opinions and decisions have been necessarily 
restricted mainly to questions of our own law, in which 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I3I 

the outside world is not so much concerned or in- 
terested. 

Nevertheless, Blackford's place in the history of In- 
diana can not be mistaken. He comes to us as the 
wisest interpreter of the old constitution and as the 
harbinger of the new. He was identified with the 
middle period of transition, between two widely dif- 
ferent dispensations. The era and the man are alike 
memorable. 

The meeting of the general assembly fifty years ago 
made a very perceptible impression both upon the busi- 
ness and the society of the capital. This society was 
very busy, brilliant and animated during the session. 
It was composed of residents of Indianapolis, the of- 
ficers of state and members of the senate and house, 
and their families, with a number of persons from the 
outlying towns and counties who came to Indian- 
apolis to spend the winter during the legislative ses- 
sion. The theater and other public amusements 
were of a high order ; the evening lecture course was 
regular and largely patronized. In the old Masonic 
Hall you might have heard Wendell Phillips, George 
D. Prentice, Mr. Murdock in his Shakespearian read- 
ings, and other celebrities of the middle of the last 
century. The round of private parties was constant 
and uninterrupted until the final adjournment in 
March. The lobby, or third house, was quite as well 
known then as now ; it consisted of persons belonging 
to the society of the capital. The speaker or leader 



132 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of the lobby was usually a resident of the city, a gentle- 
man of polished manners and address, well fitted for 
the social functions of his position. One of his princi- 
pal duties was to take care, from week to week, that 
the various parties and entertainments did not interfere 
with one another or with the public sessions of the two 
houses. He was well acquainted with the officers and 
members of the legislature and was in frequent com- 
munication with them ; but he had no connection with 
public business, said nothing upon legislative subjects, 
and took special care to avoid these topics. In conver- 
sation he made no allusions to those things, and the 
lobby maintained a like reticence. Persons belonging 
to the third house frecjuently called members from their 
seats or buttonholed them as they walked to and from 
their lodgings. The object of these interviews was to 
remind the member of some entertainment or to secure 
his attendance at the charity ball or church festival. 

Often the lobby and its leaders attended our sessions. 
Upon such occasions as the delivery of the governor's 
message, a joint meeting of the two houses, or some 
stirring discussion in either branch, the ladies and 
gentlemen of the third house came in full dress and 
form and the old halls wore a very gay and attractive 
appearance. The chambers of both houses were well 
but plainly furnished. Seats, whether inside or out- 
side of the bar, were uncushioned, except of the presid- 
ing officers. Every attention was given to comfort 
and convenience, very little to mere luxury or display. 

Yet if you had the good fortune to hear Mr. Thomas 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I33 

Ware Gibson or Mr. George P. R. Wilson of the sen- 
ate, Mr. Pratt or Mr. Scott of the house, in the flow of 
high discourse upon some of their favorite themes, you 
would have forgotten all about the mysteries of up- 
holstery, nor would you for a moment have thought 
the hall not amply furnished. The ornamentation 
and furnishing of a legislative chamber are best shown 
in the excellence of the talents and merits of the mem- 
bership. Where these are lacking the place may be 
finely kept and garnished with a full supply of carved 
work in mahogany or walnut, with much profusion of 
scarlet or crimson in the drapery, but it is still empty 
and unadorned. 

It was then some years before the advent of the 
street-car, and there were two methods of city travel 
— one by the carriage or omnibus, the other afoot. 
Members, for the sake of exercise, usually chose the 
latter. The streets, the State House, and other princi- 
pal buildings, were lighted with gas; lamps and can- 
dles were yet in general use elsewhere. Several of the 
ablest men of the state were serving in the house or 
senate. They had not undertaken this service for any 
pecuniary gain or profit. The pay of a member was 
three dollars a day. Few of the members were wealthy, 
none of them were poor in honor, in integrity or in the 
riches of a good name. 

Strolling on a Sunday morning in the Circle, then 
a very pleasant place for a morning ramble, you might 
have seen Governor Wright leaving his house on the 
way to church, where he was very punctual in attend- 



134 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ance. If he met any of his acquaintances, not resi- 
dents of the city, he invited them to join him, and the 
invitation was usually accepted. The governor lived 
in the executive mansion; it stood on the north side 
of Market, between Illinois and Tennessee streets. 

Our capital city at the time was well known as a 
Sunday town, no less from the regular observance of 
the day than from the church-going habits of the peo- 
ple. Religious services were occasionally held in the 
hall of the house of representatives, and a quorum of 
both branches might be counted among the congrega- 
tion. The person who officiated was some minister of 
distinction who had, on his journey between the East 
and West, tarried over to spend the Sabbath in In- 
dianapolis. 



CHAPTER NINE 

SERVICE IN THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF 1 853 THE 

BENCH AND BAR OF FIFTY YEARS AGO LAW, LATIN 

AND LEGAL MAXIMS JOSEPH A, WRIGHT JOHN A. 

WILSTACH GEORGE W. EWING ALBERT G. SLOO 

MR. JUSTICE WORDEN 

In the meantime the special purpose of my legislative 
mission, the bill for the enactment of a cattle-lien law, 
had not been forgotten. It was prepared and intro- 
duced at an early period in the session, had been re- 
ferred to a committee and favorably reported. A dili- 
gent personal canvass was made in its behalf among 
the members of both houses. The governor, Mr. 
Joseph A. Wright, with whom I had conversed on the 
subject, said that he would approve the bill with great 
pleasure, and expressed his surprise that no such pro- 
vision had been made by former legislation. The 
governor indeed had a very lively concern in all mat- 
ters pertaining to the farming interests. Not only his 
official acts, but much of his personal attention and 
labor, were devoted to their advancement. He may 
be justly regarded as the founder of the state Board 
of Agriculture, and of the system of fairs and agri- 
cultural exhibitions which have since been so frequent.. 

135 



136 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Of course these things had at the time the attraction 
of novelty for our people; but their prolonged exist- 
ence and continuance show a permanent utility. 

The bill encountered some resistance in the house, 
and among its opponents was Mr. Pratt, my law pre- 
ceptor, who was a representative from the county of 
Cass. I regretted this, but was not surprised by it, 
as he had before told me he could not support the meas- 
ure ; he thought it was too much of an innovation upon 
the principles of the common law. Several of the elder 
members of the bar in the house held the same opinion. 
There was a full debate upon its merits, but the bill 
passed by a handsome majority and was sent to the 
senate. Mr. Ashbel P. Willard, the lieutenant-gov- 
ernor and president of that body, and Mr. James D. 
Williams, then a senator from the county of Knox, 
cordially gave it their support. It passed the senate 
without debate, was approved by the governor and 
thus became a part of the law of the state. 

Immediately after the adjournment of the legislature 
I went home, and found clients and cases awaiting my 
return. I was heartily congratulated by the constit- 
uencies of both counties upon the success which had 
attended these efforts. This public service had in some 
way given me a measure of prestige which placed me 
more nearly on a level with my seniors at the bar, — a 
class of men for whom I entertained the highest es- 
teem and admiration. In the treatment of their juniors 
in the profession they were kindly and generous, not 
forgetting the days of their own probation as begin- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 37 

ners. Many of them were persons of fine natural en- 
dowment, as well as of liberal acquirements, who had 
achieved distinction by the most sedulous application 
to duty in the line of their calling; all of them were 
post-graduates in the rugged school of that stern mas- 
ter, experience. 

The members of the bar fift}^ years ago were a con- 
vivial fraternity. They made a free use of stimulants ; 
they drank, not to any gross excess, but the habit was 
general. In like manner, with few exceptions, they 
played cards, and frequently for money ; but the stakes 
were small, and no one was ever enriched or impover- 
ished by the result. Our circuit judge, though he was 
an inveterate player, would never admit that he gam- 
bled. He had a handsome euphemism for the occasion. 
Approaching an attorney, with whom he was well ac- 
quainted, he would say that he had a little money in his 
pocket about which he was uncertain whether it be- 
longed to himself or to the person he addressed, and 
would invite him to his room in the evening, so that 
they might have a trial of the right of property to deter- 
mine its ownership. The trial of course took place at 
chambers. Any member of the bar who called might 
interplead and take part in the action. Outsiders were 
not admitted; to that extent the game was exclusive. 

When a regular symposium was held, usually at the 
close of the term, these games were accompanied by 
music, the songs of the circuit. The ballads sung 
were jovial, but not beyond the line of becoming de- 
corum. In the Season of the Year, GahricVs JVedding, 



138 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Life Let lis Cherish, and the Arkansas Gentleman,^ 
were specimens. The Arkansas Gentleman was a gen- 
eral favorite. It was a sort of poetical centipede, hav- 
ing rhymed terminals, though the feet in the lines were 
irregular and almost innumerable. 

This fine Arkansas gentleman went strong for Pierce and King, 
And when the election was over he went down to Washington to 

get an office or some other comfortable thing; 
But when he got there the boys told him, that the trumps were all 

played and the game was up, yet they treated him so fine 
That he came back to his plantation and lived happier than ever 

just on the Choctaw line. 

The counterpart of this pilgrim to Washington 
might doubtless be found in many places to-day; no 
poet has celebrated his journey, and even if some of 
our bards had done so, it is hardly to be supposed that 
any member of the bar would now sing or even deign 
to listen to such a roundelay. 

The Choctazv line became a proverbial expression 
in our circuit for a life of good cheer and hospitality. 
A witness called in a certain case to a question of char- 
acter, after answering the usual inciuiries, summed up 
his statement with the remark that the gentleman 
asked about was an honest man, a good neighbor and 
citizen, and had lived for many years as near to the 
Choctaw line as any person he had ever known. This 
evidence was perfectly understood both by the judge 
and jury engaged in hearing the cause. These con- 
vivialities of the bar were limited to the members 
of their own brotherhood and occurred when those 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 39 

who participated in them were off duty. These same 
gentlemen, when engaged in the court-room in the trial 
of a case pending, were models of the gravest propriety. 
When the active business of the term was over the 
revels commenced; all waited for the final adjourn- 
ment, and no one ever thought of leaving the judge to 
make the journey alone to his next appointment. It 
must not be forgotten that these veterans of" the bench 
and bar were living at the close of what might be called 
an old dispensation, the distinctive feature of which was 
the circuit practice. Much of their time was spent 
away from home. On their travels, mostly made on 
horseback, they encountered bad roads and often 
worse weather ; their professional work was per- 
formed with great skill and fidelity, frequently under 
circumstances of much discomfort. When the labors 
of the term were ended, or, to use their own expres- 
sion, when school was out, they felt as if they had a 
right to some amusement. They took not the least 
pains to disguise or conceal the character of their recre- 
ations as these were not, in their view, the subject of 
any reasonable reproach or discredit. 

Members of the old bar were not at all inferior to 
those of the new in capacity or integrity, in dignity, 
courtesy, or learning. These patriarchs made no sort 
of claim to virtues, or so called virtues, which they did 
not possess, or to habits which they did not practise. 
They did not write elaborate essays for the maga- 
zines upon the subject of professional ethics, but they 
thoroughly understood and rigidly enforced the rules 



140 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of tliat species of morality. The attorney who in- 
dulged in sharp practice against his fellow member of 
the bar might once or twice be forgiven, but he who 
resorted to such means in dealing with a client or a 
layman instantly lost caste, and that beyond respite or 
remedy. 

The fee was regarded as a proper accompaniment 
for legal service, but it was not made the chief object 
in their professional life. They were untouched by 
the commercial spirit, untainted by the slightest trace 
of reverence for wealth as such. They felt in their 
faces the breath of the coming age; overheard in the 
distance the gigantic steps of approaching material 
progress, and somewhat adapted their methods to its 
action, but always within the elemental lines of recti- 
tude and justice. 

Sometimes seated around a blazing log fire in a way- 
side country tavern, they discussed with keen zest and 
much philosophic foresight the probable legal ques- 
tions of the coming time. Having done this they 
left these subjects, not without deep concern, but with 
unfaltering trust and confidence, to the wise and pure 
arbitrament of the tribunals of the future. 

Law Latin was a familiar phrase and thing in the 
practice half a century ago. In the ordinary proceed- 
ings of the courts it was heard often, and it abounded 
in the pages of the old text-books, though our modern 
law-writers have banished it to the foot-notes. For 
centuries after it had been enacted that the oral pro- 
ceedings in the English courts should be conducted ir. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I4I 

the vernacular, the formal writs and pleadings still 
continued to be written in Latin. This usage still 
survives in the names commonly given to such writs 
as habeas corpus and others. Nor do we make a very- 
radical change when we use the words information, 
mandate, or prohibition as substitutes, since these, like 
court, jury, judgment, injunction, execution, evidence 
and verdict, are all Latin derivations. Thus our es- 
cape from Latin has not been very far or free ; we speak 
of legal proceedings in a dialect of Anglicised Latin 
and can use no other. We pay a verbal tribute to 
Rome, the ruler of the ancient, and in this respect still 
the mistress of the modern world. 

In the practice at the bar in those days Latin cita- 
tion was very frequent. It was noticeable that those 
who knew less about Latin were most fond of 
quoting it. There was a certain attorney of our cir- 
cuit, of considerable natural parts and ability, a native 
of that island so famous for its potatoes and potations, 
not elaborately versed in the law, but gifted with much 
shrewdness and a ready sense of humor, who had ac- 
quired this habit of frequent Latin quotation, and 
sometimes made singular errors. He was on one 
occasion engaged in making an argument upon a de- 
murrer, in which he referred repeatedly to what he 
called "the well known Latin maxim of De tinimis 
non curat lex." The judge hearing the cause corrected 
this, but the learned counsel was not inclined to ac- 
quiesce in the amendment ; he said he knew very well 
what the word meant, and that we had almost the same 



142 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

word, tiniest, in English ; so that the alternation of de 
minimis from the bench and de tinimis from the bar 
was for a while quite amusing. 

Mr. John A. Wilstach, of Lafayette, sat near dur- 
ing this colloquy and enjoyed it very much. This 
gentleman was one of the best Latin scholars in the 
state, but though an eminent and learned lawyer, he 
seldom used Latin in the courts. He was thoroughly 
acquainted also with what may be called the first cousin 
of the Latin tongue, the Italian. His rhymed versions 
of Dante and Virgil, the only translations of those 
poets made by an Lidianian, are works of much merit. 
He was of an extremely quiet and unobtrusive de- 
meanor. His ordinary conversation was of the coun- 
try side, dwelling much upon local county history and 
upon the migration of the early pioneers and their de- 
scendants. You might have taken him for a member 
of the stay-at-home club, though he had traveled ex- 
tensively and under the most favorable auspices. He 
was appointed by Governor Morton commissioner for 
our state to the Liternational Exposition at Paris. 
While abroad he made the tour of Europe ; had a per- 
sonal interview with the pope, of whose wide com- 
munion he was a member ; walked the streets of Pom- 
peii and gazed into the crater of Vesuvius, at a time 
when, among our western folk, such adventures were 
not so common as they have since become. He was a 
stanch Republican, but wholly devoid of political am- 
bition. Earnestly devoted to his profession, he em- 
ployed his leisure in literary research ; he never desired 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I43 

office and held none, except the commissionership. He 
spoke very Httle of himself or his works, bnt took 
pride in his state, in his city, in their people, and was 
one of the latest survivors of the old practitioners in 
his circuit. 

I have heard Mr. Wilstach, more than once, make 
a commentary in conversation upon the law maxim, 
Salus populi suprcma lex esto. He said that this 
maxim had been very harshly treated by lawyers, 
public speakers, and notably by the advocates of that 
wild justice called lynch-law. These persons, he ob- 
served, begin by misquoting it. The last word in 
it is not est but esto. It is sometimes attributed to 
Cicero, who indeed cites it, but it is much older than 
his day. It is first found in the Roman enactment 
called the Tiuelve Tables. The authors of that legis- 
lation, after making a number of statutes, some civil, 
others criminal, add this by way of advice for future 
action : "Salus populi suprema lex esto." That is : 
in all your lawmaking let the welfare of the people be 
your chief object. These modern interpreters apply 
the maxim as if we ought to forsake the known law 
whenever they may deem it for the public advantage 
to do so. But this adage is not, and was never in- 
tended to be, a rule for the conduct of private persons 
or individual citizens, either singly or in any number; 
it is given only as a rule for legislators, — lawmakers 
acting in their public capacity. An unorganized and 
miscellaneous multitude are not lawmakers, and in vio- 
lating the known law of the country they are without 



144 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

any justification from this maxim save that derived 
from the misuse of its lang-uage and m.eaning. I have 
since noticed a commentarj^ upon this phrase, of the 
same drift and tenor, in the works of Selden, a great 
authority. 

This maxim is a brief, grave admonition against 
special statutes and enactments; it enjoins that the 
safety or good of the people, not private interests or 
personal gain, shall be the supreme rule of legislation. 
The venal judge or lawmaker is not an unknown char- 
acter, and the maxim has been too often disregarded ; 
but it has never been disapproved even by those guilty 
of its violation. 

These primary axioms of the Roman code are not 
only maxims of law but of civilization, a part, so to 
speak, of the constitutional provisions made by con- 
science for the moral government of mankind. Twenty 
or thirty in number, they have been often edited and 
compiled with voluminous comments. They have been 
translated into all languages and have been made the 
basis of legislative and judicial action in all the coun- 
tries of Christendom. Not that justice has been else- 
where unknown, but that thought concerning it, touch- 
ing secular and civil affairs, has never been so tersely 
expressed in terms of such compactness and precision. 
For example : that no man shall be a judge in his own 
cause, ' forbids a judge or juror from passing upon 
a question involving his own interests or conduct. It 
is the basis of the practice in the whole system of 
change of venue and the still more extensive province 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I45 

of new trial, review and appeal including as it does 
the corollary that the judge of a trial court shall not 
sit in final judgment upon his former decision, since 
this in legal effect is his own cause. 

Each of these principal maxims has a like history 
and development. Courts and legislatures have for 
centuries followed and obeyed them, frequently without 
mention or citation, almost unconsciously, as a man 
may date his letter in July or August without thinking 
of Julius or Augustus, those world-rulers of two 
thousand years ago in whose honor the months were 
named. Yet of all monuments the month-name is 
most widely known, as it has been the most enduring. 
The whole world is still thus rendering unto Csesar 
the things that are Caesar's. 

Latin is commonly said now to be a dead language, 
though if dead it is certainly not buried. English, 
French and German may be taken as fair representa- 
tives of the living languages now most generally spoken 
and written ; but wherever these are known, and in 
many places where they are not in common use, Latin 
is known and understood. In the republic of letters, 
greater than any race, nation or government, it is yet 
taught, studied and interpreted. Among many classes 
of people it is in use colloquially, in conversation and 
correspondence ; in one branch of the Christian Church 
pervading every part of the habitable globe, it is still 
heard in the daily service of prayer and worship. 
The most widely used of the modern European lan- 
guages are thus, compared with Latin, local and pro- 



146 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

vincial, as they are also recent and transient. No 
modern language of European origin has an age much 
beyond a thousand years ; the mother tongue of Cicero 
has more than twice that period of duration, though 
it is not yet unknown, unused, or unspoken. 

Although at present it may be hardly necessary 
often to cite these fundamental maxims of justice in 
their original tongue, it is exceedingly fitting and ap- 
propriate that they should be written, printed and thus 
recorded in a language whose words, form and struc- 
ture are fixed and unchangeable, resembling their own 
character in its permanence and universality. A period 
may come of more perfect civilization and enlighten- 
ment when these elementary precepts of the old Latin 
law will be no longer needed, as being useless and in- 
applicable, when the language in which they were first 
written will be totally lost and forgotten ; so we may 
dream of a time when the Roman alphabet and the 
Arabic numerals, both of which we have taken for our 
own, shall be supplanted by others and become obsolete. 

But the possibility of these conditions is denied by 
the experience of many centuries, by the actual usage 
of the present age, — an age that has wrought, for the 
better, stupendous changes in the course and currents 
of human action. It has been an age of much inven- 
tion, of less discovery. In many things its work is 
unfinished ; in certain others it will, also for the better, 
reach a goal bearing the inscription, Thus far. Its 
forces, like the ocean tides, will be stayed but not mo- 
tionless, still ebbing and flowing within bounds. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I47 

At the time of my settlement in White County, and 
for a long while afterward, its lands were owned in 
large quantities by non-residents. The transfer of 
title was frequent, and many of the most prominent 
and active business men of that period became owners 
of White County realty, so much as to make this kind 
of property a part of the general trading stock of the 
whole country. Some of the landowners -were cor- 
respondents of mine and became personal acquaint- 
ances. 

Among them was George W. Ewing, of Fort 
Wayne, one of the strongest and most unique charac- 
ters in our early history. He was by birth a Pennsyl- 
vanian, but had come to our state when a young man ; 
had engaged in the Indian trade, was one of the 
first and most successful of our Indian merchant trad- 
ers, and thus laid the foundation of a large fortune. 
No other Indianian was so well known, either at home 
or abroad, for the magnitude and success of his busi- 
ness enterprises, save Mr. Albert G. Sloo, of Vincennes. 
The business of Mr. Sloo was, however, that of trans- 
portation. His lines of stage-coaches traversed the 
entire West, and had their terminals on the uttermost 
verge of civilization. He was at one time the largest 
contractor for carrying the mails in the United States. 

It may be curious to note in this superlatively prac- 
tical age that our home biography has been limited 
to the lives of statesmen. There might be found in 
the account of the lives of such men as Ewing and 
Sloo subjects as instructive and as worthy of attentive 



148 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

study as those of any of their contemporaries, even the 
most renowned. Such men of action as these had in 
their day a larger and more attached following in their 
employment; a more intimate acquaintance with the 
people among whom they transacted business, and a 
personal repute far exceeding that of the more recent 
leaders in the business world. Corporation manage- 
ment affords but slight material for biography; it ef- 
faces and submerges personality, and commits to an 
invisible and not over-scrupulous agency the conduct 
of its enterprises. 

George W. Ewing was a man of singular foresight 
and sagacity, a close student of men, of intense force 
of character, having large command of all those facul- 
ties used in controlling others, and withal a person 
of as courtly carriage and demeanor as might be met 
with in the most polished circles. In early life he took 
an active interest in political affairs and served a term 
in our legislature as senator from the county of Allen. 
He attended, as a delegate from his county, the Demo- 
cratic state convention held on the eighth of January, 
1840, at Indianapolis, and could have been nominated, 
as I have often heard, by acclamation, for governor, 
had he not declined the position. Neither nomination 
nor election to such place had for him any allurement. 
The profits he realized in the Indian trade were chiefly 
invested in real estate, in the primitive lots and out- 
lots of Chicago, then a growing town, which enhanced 
afterward greatly in value. He had also at one 
time extensive holdings in St, Louis and its neighbor- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I49 

hood. In Fort Wayne and in other parts of Indiana 
he had many valuable possessions. In the course of 
some of his dealings he acquired title to large tracts 
of land in White County, and had a long and very tedi- 
ous though successful litigation concerning these ; he 
personally visited our county-seat a number of times 
upon business connected with this contest. He had 
early adopted the policy of following the Indian tribes, 
with his whole force and trading establishment, to 
their new homes in the far West, whither they were 
removed by the government. 

The calendar of his year was divided into three 
parts; one of these he spent at Washington, giving 
personal attention to his claims and treaty interests, 
always somewhat involved in the negotiations between 
the government and the tribes. Another he spent in 
journeys of inspection among his trading posts in the 
far West. Here he met his Indian customers, lodged 
as their guest in the wigwam, often sat with them in 
council ; had revealed to him the most recondite secrets 
of the medicine-man, and heard strange, wild legends 
of the forefathers of their race, told only at midnight 
to the chosen few sitting round the smoldering embers 
of the council fire. The third portion of the time was 
given to visiting his old friends at Fort Wayne and 
other places near his home in Indiana. 

Mr. Ewing had established in the course of time 
many trading points upon the waters of the upper 
Mississippi, in the country extending toward the Red 
River of the North, then in the territory of Minnesota, 



150 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

where almost the whole population was half-breed 
or Indian, and the white settlers were few. The 
delegate from Minnesota at Washington had ren- 
dered him some service and they were friends. The 
delegate, owing to some political storm or stress, was 
in much trouble concerning his reelection. The legis- 
lature of the territory had, a few years before, passed 
some sort of statute authorizing Indians residing there, 
who should adopt the customs, habits and dress of the 
whites, to vote at the elections. The law was yet in 
force but it had been little used or put into practice. 
Some months before the election for delegate was to 
take place, a very heavy order was received from the 
Ewing headquarters for hats, boots, and ready-made 
clothing. The order was a surprise; they had never 
before dealt in that class of goods ; but the goods were 
forwarded and rapidly disposed of. Immediately all 
the Indians along the line of the Ewing posts discarded 
the blanket and the moccasin, and appeared in the garb 
of civilization. They had adopted the habits and the 
dress of the white man ; they all voted, and the delegate 
was reelected. Ewing, often consulted by the ofificers 
of the government as well as by the Indian chiefs, 
was the master spirit of the frontier, and mainly 
for the reason that in his personal dealings with the 
Indians and their kinsmen he kept faith. Not always 
did he give his word or promise, but once given it was 
never broken. Thus he retained their confidence and 
respect, even their warm friendship and affection, dur- 
ing the whole course of his career. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I5I 

A gentleman long in his employment told me that he 
was once present at an Indian payment where the dis- 
bursing officer, under instructions to that effect, ten- 
dered to a French half-breed, who was also the hus- 
band of an Indian woman, instead of money, a treasury 
warrant in satisfaction of his claim. The half-breed 
loudly protested against that sort of payment, but 
finally agreed that if his friend Wash Ewing would 
indorse the paper he would take it. Mr. Ewing was 
sent for, came to the pay-tent and wrote his name 
across the back of the paper; well content with the 
security, the claimant signed the voucher, took the 
warrant and went his way. 

It is hardly possible to recall Ewing without the 
mention of his friend and fellow townsman, of whom 
he often spoke, and ever in the highest terms. This 
was Mr. James W. Worden, afterward for many 
years an honored member of the supreme court of our 
state. Ewing had been the friend of Worden in his 
youthful beginnings, in his early professional life and 
in his efforts for political advancement. At all times, 
under all circumstances, he was ready to promote the 
interests of one whom he so highly esteemed. It was 
the sort of attachment, voluntary and disinterested, 
which one true man has for another. 

The members of the bar then in the practice of the 
law learned in due season to entertain for Mr. Worden 
sentiments of the highest admiration and regard. 
His reputation as a judge was not of sudden growth, 
rather of gradual but lasting development. He had, 



152 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

indeed, for the performance of his duties one special 
quahfication. His acquaintance with the hne of In- 
diana precedents and decisions from the first organi- 
zation of the court to the period of his own service, 
was more complete and accurate than that of any other 
member of the profession. He was, moreover, pos- 
sessed of the intuitive wisdom to discern, and, in con- 
sultation with his colleagues on the bench, to determine, 
when a precedent ought to be modified or abandoned 
and when it should be rigidly observed. But these 
qualities, even of surpassing excellence, bore little 
part in Mr. Ewing's estimation of his friend. He 
loved the man, as others loved him, because of his de- 
votion to truth, right and justice ; for his indifference 
to praise or censure in the discharge of duty; for his 
utter disregard of mere popular clamor or the trans- 
itory plaudits of the hour. Conscience was in his 
life supreme. 



CHAPTER TEN 

POLITICAL CAMPAIGN OF 1854 CAMPAIGN OF 1856 

ASHBEL P. WILLARD DEMOCRATIC MASS-MEETING 

AT THE TIPPECANOE BATTLE-GROUND GENERAL 

LEWIS CASS OF MICHIGAN THE PROPHETS TOWN 

ELECTION TO THE LEGISLATURE IN 1 858 A CON- 
TESTED SENATORIAL ELECTION DOCTOR GRAHAM N. 

FITCH DOCTOR JOHN W. DAVIS 

Although not a candidate in 1854, yet I was an active 
participant in the canvass then made, as in all the cam- 
paigns from 1848 onward. The opposition was at this 
time called the People's party, but the nominations, the 
active organization and movements of the party, were 
all controlled by clandestine association within its lines 
known as the Order of Native Americans, commonly 
called Know-Nothings. Our canvass was made upon 
the principles of the Democratic platform as then an- 
nounced. Our majorities in 1852 had been large and 
general ; there was apparently no violent opposition to 
the course of our administration at Washington, and on 
the face of things success seemed probable. The pub- 
lic campaign of our opponents was a mere pretense; 
it dealt to some extent with current issues, but disclosed 
nothing of their real designs and policy. We felt, as the 

153 



154 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

canvass proceeded, that there was something ajar in 
popular opinion, a subdued, though quite an active com- 
motion ; but we were unable to divine its causes or to lo- 
cate its effects. It became known from various sources 
that there were numerous defections from our ranks, 
and it was surmised that these made additions to the 
lodges of Native Americans, which sprang into exist- 
ence on every side ; yet the personnel of these converts 
was known only to the brotherhood of the order, which 
in its first obligation bound the new member to conceal 
and deny his membership. It was not until after the 
election that we learned with certainty the aims and ob- 
jects of this wide-spread combination. 

The result of the election in October, 1854, afforded 
us a good deal of information, and much more chagrin. 
A tidal wave of great force and rapidity had swept 
over our former constituencies. It had submerged the 
highest and dryest places in the political reserves ; it had 
scorned calculation, laughed at prediction and tossed 
aside apportionments like chaff before the whirlwind. 
We were beaten on the state ticket, in the legislature, 
in almost two-thirds of the counties, and if there had 
been anything else to lose we should have lost it. 

When, however, the legislature met, which had been 
elected by these methods, when it had enacted the 
Maine law and other statutes quite as obnoxious to the 
people of the state, a reaction set in and the ebb became 
as swift and strong as the flood had been in their favor. 
Both Whigs and Democrats abandoned their connec- 
tion with the order, revealed and denounced its hidden 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 55 

dog-mas and designs, which now were made pnbHc and 
notorious. 

This movement had commenced in hostility to the 
Roman CathoHc Church, but soon comprised all for- 
eign-born and naturalized citizens in its proscription. 
Catholics were to be subject to a special test oath of 
allegiance, and foreign-born citizens must reside twen- 
ty-one years in the United States before their admit- 
tance to the franchise; offices of trust and profit were to 
be held only by native-born Americans ; all other citi- 
zens were to be excluded by law as ineligible. Amer- 
icans must rule America. The passions and prejudices 
of mankind were inflamed to the highest degree by the 
most incredible rumors, circulated in the occult councils 
of the lodges. This led to many acts of brutal violence, 
and the scenes of bloody Monday, a frightful day of 
massacre and burnings, were heralded as a victory at 
the polls of true-born Americans against the rule of 
foreigners and aliens. 

The Democratic party immediately assailed and de- 
nounced this policy of exclusion, appealing to that lib- 
eral and generous spirit of the people which from the 
beginning had been so often shown in the legislation 
of our state. This appeal was not made in vain. Our 
success in Indiana in 1856 was even more complete 
tlian it had been in 1852; it resulted in the final over- 
throw of those influences of bigotry and persecution 
which had, by their stealthy approach, acquired for a 
brief period an apparent ascendancy. 

The prominent figure in the great campaign of 1856 



156 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

was Ashbel P. Willard ; he was the Democratic candi- 
date for governor, and well deserved that high posi- 
tion. Success crowned his efforts, but even defeat 
could have detracted nothing from his genius, his elo- 
quence, and his unselfish and patriotic devotion to the 
highest interests of the state and the country. Nom- 
inated on the eighth of January, according to the an- 
cient usage of the party, he delivered his opening ad- 
dress in the canvass at Rensselaer to an audience, most 
of whom had come in sleighs across the prairie, yet 
covered with snow, to attend the meeting. Such was 
the daily labor of the canvass, month after month, un- 
til October. His physical powers of endurance were re- 
markable. He not only spoke every day but worked or 
traveled all night; literally wore out his associates 
and companions with incessant activity. To friends 
who asked him where and when he slept, his answer 
was: "There will be time enough to sleep after we 
have carried the election." 

His talent for detail was as efficient as that for larger 
action. In visiting the counties of the state he did not 
neglect the townships or the precincts, but made per- 
sonal inspection of poll lists, persisted in seeing the per- 
sons in charge, and carefully looked into every nook 
and corner of the political field. It was a favorite say- 
ing of his that in politics nothing must be taken for 
granted. His conduct conformed to the rule. He pre- 
dicted with confidence his own election, and showed to 
his friends, toward the close of the canvass, his esti- 
mate of the vote of the state bv counties. The result 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 157 

verified his calculations, at a time when staid and ex- 
perienced politicians of both parties declined to make 
estimates, saying that the state was too close and doubt- 
ful even for conjecture. 

One very peculiar trait marked his private inter- 
course as it did his public career. This was his absolute 
control of temper. Under no circumstances could he be 
provoked into showing any sign of irritation; anger 
seemed wholly unknown to him except as he might 
have noticed its effects on others. Before a popular 
audience his good humor was invariable. Neither 
question, interruption, nor contradiction, caused him 
the least annoyance ; calmly he awaited the proper mo- 
ment, swiftly delivered his answer or retort, — the as- 
sailant vanished. With this constancy of self-control 
he was not otherwise lacking in emotion or sensibility ; 
indeed, to use the phrase of the good people of that 
day, he was known to be uncommonly tender-hearted. 
The opposition made the objection to his selection as 
governor that he would empty every cell in the peni- 
tentiary ; that he could not resist importunity nor repel 
the prayer of sympathy. Sometimes he noticed this 
objection in telling his hearers that although he might 
not be so strict in the exercise of the pardoning power 
as some of his predecessors, yet he would take good 
care during his administration to see that no Know- 
Nothing received the benefit of the executive clemency. 
The crowd laughed and cheered, and the objection was 
forgotten. 

In his actual administration of the government 



158 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the pardoning prerogative was exercised with due 
precaution and with the practical wisdom pervading 
every part of his official conduct. Willard's external 
appearance was such as to exhibit to the fullest advan- 
tage his rare intellectual endowments. It may be said, 
from the unbribed and common estimate of men, that 
his presence was commanding, that his manner, full of 
mingled ease and dignity, attracted the attention and 
regard of all those that saw or heard him. To these 
natural gifts were added acquirements of no ordinary 
character. He was graduated with the first honors of 
his class from Hamilton College, New York, of which 
state he was a native. He came west to Kentucky, 
and, yet in early manhood, removed to Indiana, settling 
at New Albany, where, still a young man, he had given 
up a lucrative practice at the bar and, upon the earnest 
solicitation of political friends, entered the arena of 
public life. 

His favorite auditorium was the open air, a tract of 
woodland just cleared of the undergrowth ; here his 
audience sat or reclined at will in the shade, and he 
took the liberties implied by this free environment. In 
hot weather I have seen him, at such a place, release the 
necktie from his collar, divest himself of his outer gar- 
ment with the remark that his father always told him he 
disliked to see a hand in the harvest field with his coat 
on ; all this was said and done with such a facile grace 
and such a courteous deference to the audience that the 
dishabille attracted little notice and was soon forgotten 
in the glow of his delivery. His voice was a full tenor, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I59 

strong, clear, resonant, likened often to the sound of 
the trumpet or clarion. From long practice he had ac- 
quired the habit of uttering syllables as other men 
speak words. He could be heard distinctly at a very 
great distance, with the curious effect that all his words 
seemed to be emphasized, though there was no monot- 
ony; the rich and varied modulations of the voice, 
suited to the theme, prevented this. 

In addressing a miscellaneous audience he seldom In- 
dulged in humor, and for the most part discarded anec- 
dote. In preparation he studied his subject rather than 
his speech. His propositions in argument were an- 
nounced in a tone grave and serious; they were out- 
lined with a bold, even daring, hand ; he wore no veiled 
personality, altliough he was not wanting in caution, 
and his defense was as skilful as his attack was direct 
and incisive. His highest thoughts were clothed in 
language easy of apprehension by his auditors, but 
there was no descent into the region of commonplace ; 
there was special avoidance of coarse or colloquial 
truism. 

In dealing with the dogmas of the so-called Native 
American Order he sketched briefly at the close the 
lives and characters of Carroll and of Arnold, ending 
with a single sentence of contrast: Benedict Arnold 
was a Protestant, a native-born American and a 
traitor. Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, was an Irish- 
man, a Catholic and a patriot. This passage, much 
noted at the time, may be even now not unworthy of 
remembrance. He had one accomplishment useful in 



l6o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

any vocation, but especially advantageous in public 
life, — the recollection of names and faces. He never 
forgot the face of one whom he had met, and his re- 
membrance of names was almost as perfect. Being 
asked on,ce in my presence how he had acquired this, 
he answered that it was partly natural, partly the result 
of long and careful practice. He had in his youth, 
from his eighteenth year, formed the habit of recalling, 
when he retired for the night, the features and names 
of any strangers he had met during the day. At first 
these groups were small in number; as his life and 
career broadenea they grew larger ; but he found that 
his faculty of remembrance grew and kept pace with 
them, and this habit, thus continued, became so fixed 
and regular that he was hardly conscious of its exer- 
cise. 

Whenever he met persons during the day whom 
he had not known before, their features, distinctly out- 
lined and ticketed mentally with their names, recurred 
to his memory at night, and could afterward be re- 
summoned at pleasure. Sometimes faces appeared 
which he had seen, but with whom he had not become 
acquainted, and whom he had no particular wish or 
reason to remember; yet they would return again 
and again, until he would describe these features to 
some one who knew the persons, and so learn their 
names ; the names and faces, being thus according to his 
general custom connected, seemed then quietly to rest 
in the memory. The impressions induced by this prac- 
tice were so clear and strong that after a lapse of many 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES l6l 

years he would recall the name and face of one whom 
he had met, even in a casual manner, and would fre- 
quently remind him of the circumstances of their for- 
mer meeting, which the man himself had forgotten. 

As a public speaker he had a multitude of admirers, 
even outside of his political household, and a num- 
ber of professed imitators, though none of the lat- 
ter attained any particular eminence. Penelope had 
many suitors for her hand, who strove mightily, but 
none of them could bend the bow of Ulysses. Willard 
himself constantly disparaged imitation ; he thought 
and said that an honest, homely original was better 
than the best copy. His intercourse with the younger 
members of the party was free and inspiring. He had 
the faculty of calling forth the best efforts of the 
friends who gathered round him ; had a just apprecia- 
tion of their assistance, made no claim to any monop- 
oly of patriotic work or purpose, and generously 
shared with all who participated in it the honors of the 
campaign. He was a very genial companion, his fa- 
miliar conversations touching a wide range of topics 
and abounding in reminiscences of professional and 
political life. 

To recall something of his table talk would not be 
difficult, but he was too great a man to be taken in 
miniature. He was a born prince of the hustings, 
the ablest and most accomplished stump speaker that 
ever lived in Indiana. Not many of his speeches 
have come down to us, as few were reported. After all, 
the reporter can g-ive only the text ; the tone, the look, 



l62 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the gesture and action elude his art. Many things 
which Willard said and did are well remembered, 
though he himself is not. The great popular orator, 
like the actor in the drama, or the singer in opera, 
makes no real appearance on the page. His posthu- 
mous fame rests only in tradition, yet his power and 
prestige among the people of his age were vivid real- 
ities. 

The leading event of the campaign in 1856 was a 
mass-meeting at Tippecanoe battle-ground, to which I 
went, as I had gone to the Whig meeting held at the 
same place sixteen years before. The attendance was 
as numerous as it had been on the former occasion, but 
it was intermittent; at noon, and for three or four 
hours afterward, there was a large crowd, but it dwin- 
dled away in the evening; few people camped on the 
ground. The battle-ground had now become a station 
on the railway ; trains were running in excursion every 
hour; the audience and even the speakers were sud- 
denly changed by these interruptions. I at this time 
first noticed the effect of railroad transportation upon 
a public assembly. The wagon and the saddle-horse 
were slower methods of conveyance, but they left the 
visitor much more at ease as to the time of his sojourn 
and departure. 

Many Democratic leaders from all parts of the coun- 
try attended this meeting, but our most distinguished 
guest was Lewis Cass, of Michigan, for whom, as a 
candidate for the presidency, I had, in 1848, made my 
first canvass and cast my first vote. I had called on 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 163 

him at his home in Detroit some years before, in com- 
pany with Doctor Graham N. Fitch, then a member of 
Congress. Doctor Fitch was now a candidate for 
elector at large on our ticket, and I had accompanied 
him in this trip to the battle-ground. We met Mr. Cass 
upon the ground one morning, as he was strolling in the 
woods along Burnett's Creek ; the time for the assembly 
had not yet come; he was accompanied by a young 
friend who had attended him in his journey from De- 
troit. We were pleased to meet this veteran pioneer, 
and he gave us a very cordial greeting. Doctor Fitch 
was an old and intimate friend of Mr. Cass', and they 
immediately fell into familiar conversation. Mr. Cass 
reminded us that this was not his first visit to the 
neighborhood of the battle-ground, or the Prophet's 
town, though, he said, with rather an arch expression, 
that it was his first trip down the Wabash by land. He 
had formerly traversed the course of that stream up 
and down in the canoe, and in the canal packet, but 
this time he had made the trip by rail. He thought that 
the canal and the railway were only partial substitutes 
for the canoe, which threaded its way, by creeks and 
smaller streams, into the heart of a country, reaching 
a much larger area than the other methods of convey- 
ance. 

The battle-ground, he said, used to be off the 
line of travel; it had now become easily accessible; 
formerly the Prophet's town, instead of being out of 
the way, was a regular stopping place of the voyagers 
in the pirogue or c;inoe. 



164 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

He had been, prior to 1830. for many years general 
superintendent of Indian affairs for the northwest, 
and had traveled many thousands of miles, mostly 
by canoe, in visiting the treaty-points and Indian 
reservations in that extensive territory ; he was widely 
known among our early settlers of the upper Wabash", 
who had named in his honor one of the counties of 
our state. Knowing that I lived on the Tippecanoe, 
he inquired about the improvement and progress of 
the tract of country lying between the two rivers, 
which he called the Mesopotamia of Indiana, saying 
that there were other parts of the state which were 
situated in the same manner, but this was the only 
one among them that was bounded on one side by the 
Grand Prairie. He observed that in primeval times 
there had been, across the edge of this tract, twice a 
year, an immense and regular movement of large 
game, buffalo and deer, from the prairie extending 
west to the Mississippi River, into the woodlands of In- 
diana. This movement of game in the fall toward the 
timber for winter shelter, and in the spring toward the 
prairie for the summer pasturage, had been from time 
immemorial closely watched and followed by the In- 
dians. These herds, notwithstanding their losses in 
transit by the weapons of these hunters, who lay in 
wait for them, continued always to travel by the same 
route and to cross the rivers at the same fords year 
after year. 

He contrasted the forests of Indiana with those 
of the lake region. The more northern forest abounded 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 165 

in birch, spruce, cedar and pine, timber of great com- 
mercial value, but affording little means of subsistence ; 
whereas, an Indian hunter, unsuccessful in the chase, 
could hardly go a mile in the region of the Wabash 
without finding wild nuts or fruits, the means of an 
abundant repast. Such were some of the reasons he 
gave for entertaining the opinion that Indiana had 
originally within its borders a larger Indian population 
and a greater number of different tribes than any other 
portion of the northwest. 

Mr. Cass had, since the pioneer days he spoke of, 
made other voyages besides those in the birch-bark 
canoe. He had been for six years our minister at the 
court of France; from Marseilles, had made the tour 
of the Mediterranean, visited Egypt, Syria, and Pales- 
tine, Jerusalem and the banks of the Jordan; but of 
all this he spoke not a word. An old man now, 
somewhat broken by the storms of state, he delighted 
to recur to the labor and service of his youth. We 
were glad that he chose to do so ; pleased also to know 
that he yet lived in the West, dwelling among his own 
people. In an hour after this I heard him address the 
people from the platform of the main stand. He did 
not speak very long, owing perhaps to the fatigue of 
travel ; his voice, however, was full and sonorous, his 
action and utterance were deliberate, well suited to 
the gravity of his theme. The duty and obligation 
of the citizen to support the constitution in all its parts 
and to maintain the union in accordance with the com- 
pact made at the time of its original formation were 



1 66 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

set forth in lucid and massive terms; argument was 
illustrated by historic allusions betokening the finest 
attainments of the statesman and the scholar. He had 
a larger and more attentive audience than any other 
speaker of the occasion. This was due to his prolonged 
and varied official career, both at home and abroad ; to 
his residence and military service in the West and to the 
unsullied integrity of his public and private life. The 
speech was a very fine one. But the man in that place 
and among that people was greater than the speech, 
greater than anything that could have been spoken. 

Doctor Fitch and myself called, by invitation, on Mr. 
Cass at his rooms in the evening. He was in excellent 
spirits, well pleased with the meeting and with the re- 
ception given him. He told us he might almost claim 
to be a Hoosier. He had spent formerly much of his 
time in our state, had been concerned with the cession 
of its public lands and with the affairs of the tribes re- 
siding within its boundaries. He believed that at one 
time he had a larger acquaintance than any white man 
living with the old-time Indianians, meaning, as he 
said, those who wore the moccasin and smoked the cal- 
umet. He expressed great regret concerning our pol- 
icy, then adopted, of abandoning the Wabash and Erie 
Canal. From its inception he had been an earnest ad- 
vocate of that enterprise and had delivered at Fort 
Wayne on the Fourth of July, 1843, an address in com- 
memoration of its final completion and its opening to 
navigation ; he was grieved and surprised at its prema- 
ture decline. It had been ten years in the course of 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 67 

construction, and not much longer in use and opera- 
tion. 

He referred also to what he designated as the in- 
dependent Indiana route for a waterway between the 
lakes and the river, from Lake Michigan, by way of 
the Wabash, to the waters of the Ohio ; spoke of the 
survey of this route made while he was secretary of 
war in 1833. He commended its practicability and its 
usefulness as affording a connection, by means of the 
Ohio River, with a circuit of inland navigation almost 
as extensive as that of the lakes, wholly within our own 
territory, and not subject to injury or interruption by 
a public enemy in case of war. 

In discoursing with him on these and other subjects 
we spent an hour and then took our leave, not without 
the wish, expressed most heartily, that we might meet 
again. This was the last time I saw Mr. Cass, as it 
was the last time he visited Indiana. 

During my subsequent service in the Senate of the 
United States I looked up and had reprinted the canal 
survey made in 1833 by Colonel Stansbury, the same 
officer who made the survey of the valley of the Salt 
Lake in Utah, afterward so famous. A bill was intro- 
duced by me, and twice passed the Senate, appropriat- 
ing twenty-five thousand dollars for the survey of the 
route of a ship canal from Lake Michigan to the Ohio 
River by way of the Wabash valley. For some reason 
unknown the measure failed to pass the House. The 
vast importance and inexpensive execution of this 
great thoroughfare will some day demand its con- 



l68 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

striiction. Among other things it would solve the now 
long-standing problem of the marsh — a debatable land 
between earth and water, lying along the line of the 
Kankakee, comprising thousands of acres of the finest 
alluvial soil, awaiting only reclamation by means of 
drainage, which such a canal would afford. 

The valley of the Wabash and its tributaries, in 
which are situated the capital of our state, many of our 
largest towns and most populous counties, is one of 
the regions in the West which was improved by the 
earliest European cultivation, and it is not unworthy of 
that preference. Its resources have even yet been but 
scantily exploited. The possibilities of its geograph- 
ical position, indicated by the dense network of rail- 
ways by which it is already traversed, have not yet 
been realized. A navigable waterway connecting the 
lake with the river would enhance and develop this 
commanding position. These are projects for the fu- 
ture, yet the most successful of such, enterprises were at 
one time only projects. It is easy to say with those 
brethren of Joseph in the far away field of Dothan : 
"Behold this dreamer cometh !" Many years ago I met 
one of these dreamers. His illusion had been that of 
contriving some device by which he might send a mes- 
sage without a messenger. In the beginning he had 
little money, less credit. Once, in some way, he had 
got permission to enlarge and widen an old dry well 
in a parcel of ground near the Capitol at Washing- 
ton; around the sides of this he stretched his wires, 
coil upon coil, in order to make distance for the trial 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN" TIMES 169 

of sundry experiments. The world about him seemed 
to be engaged in the busiest whirl of activity and move- L^ 
ment; they were really walking and talking in their 
sleep; the dreamer was the only one awake. 

Mr. Cass had expressed the wish to revisit the site 
of the Prophet's town. He did not do so; there was 
neither a convenient road nor conveyance for such a 
trip. Even to-day it is not easily approached. The 
capture and destruction of this place had been one of 
the chief objects of the military campaign of 181 1, as 
it had been of an earlier expedition under General Wil- 
kinson in 1 79 1. It had been probably the site of an 
Indian village for some period during the eighteenth 
century. 

Early in the fifties I made a Fourth of July address 
in a grove not far from this historic town. In the af- 
ternoon, when the exercises of the day had been con- 
cluded, accompanied by an old resident of the neigh- 
borhood, a very inteUigent and obliging guide, we vis- 
ited the place. There was no traveled road ; we walked 
on the edge of Pretty Prairie along the banks of the 
Tippecanoe until we reached the Wabash. Here we 
stood in the southwest angle made by the junction 
of the two streams, upon a high elevation of table- 
land overlooking the valleys of both. My guide pointed 
out a considerable space occupied by second-growth 
timber, plainly discernible on the sides of the de- 
clivity, as the ground formerlv occupied by the In- 
dian town, which had extended from the high-water 
mark, perhaps upon both streams to the hill, into the 



170 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

open prairie beyond. The old forest had been cut away 
during the Indian occupancy so as not to obstruct the 
view and thus conceal the approach of enemies. Here 
and there an old tree had been left standing, but these 
stood down in the valley, their tops below the level of 
the plateau. 

This location, well known before, acquired yet more 
importance after it had been chosen by Tecumseh and 
his brother, the Prophet, as the headquarters and seat 
of government of an extensive Indian confederacy, 
which they designed to form against the further prog- 
ress of white settlement and civilization. The place 
was not without advantages that justified its selec- 
tion. Seated at the confluence of two rivers, it com- 
manded the navigation of both, and was itself some- 
what inaccessible except from the west and south. In 
its immediate vicinity the means of subsistence were 
plentiful. Just across the Tippecanoe northward lay a 
large area of heavily timbered land between the two 
rivers, a kind of natural park or preserve, in which 
o-ame of all sorts abounded as did the streams in fish. 
The town adjoined an arm of the Grand, called Pretty 
Prairie, wherein the fertility of the soil was such that 
even the careless cultivation of the women and children 
of the tribe yielded an abundant crop of corn, the sta- 
ple product of Indian husbandry. 

The Prophet's town did not lack means of communi- 
cation with the outside world. During the season of 
canoe travel the Wabash and its tributaries connected 
it with a wide extent of outlying territory; in the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I7I 

winter the principal thoroughfares were two trails : 
one running along the course of the Wabash, long 
known and yet called Tecumseh's trail, the Appian 
Way of this ancient western capital ; the other running 
up the western bank of the Tippecanoe River to the 
mouth of the Monon. This last trail I have frequently 
passed over for short distances where it had not been 
touched by the plow. The trail was easily traced and 
disclosed at a glance the mode of Indian travel, in 
single file whether on foot or horseback. It was hardly 
three feet wide, and the track was depressed a few 
inches below the surface ; it was hard, densely packed, 
no vegetation in it, and, as it always followed the high- 
est ground, it was little affected by rain or snow, al- 
though it had been for years abandoned before I saw it. 
The guide that accompanied me upon the occasion 
referred to said that he had in his youth been informed 
by an old Indian trader, a French half-breed, who had 
visited the Prophet's town during the time of peace, 
shortly before the outbreak of hostilities in 1811, that 
the place was laid out with considerable regularity. 
The dwellings were built in rows, with lanes or streets 
between them ; there were some horses and a large 
number of Indian ponies kept by the inhabitants. The 
dwellings were wigwams built of poles and bark, fur- 
nished inside with robes and skins, the spoil of the 
chase. There was a larger wigwam called the House 
of the Stranger, where a traveler might find meals and 
lodging after the Indian fashion. This Hotel Grand of 
the city stood at the foot of the hill near the river, and 



172 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

was guarded by sentinels at night, for the safety, as the 
Indians said, of the guest, but perhaps also as a wary 
precaution of the host. Part of the town stood in the 
prairie above the valley, and in this quarter, not far 
from each other, were the two public buildings — ^the 
Council House and the Medicine Lodge — long, low 
structures of some size, somewhat like a log cabin, but 
of slighter materials. 

This was not only a political capital, but also a re- 
ligious or ecclesiastical center. The rule of the Prophet 
from the Medicine Lodge in the mystic superstitions of 
their race, among the distant and scattered tribes of 
the northwest, was as widely spread as that of his more 
famous brother Tecumseh in the affairs of war and 
council. Indeed, the influence of the Prophet, in the 
absence of his brother, had overruled the advice and 
orders of the warrior. Nine hundred braves, fully 
armed and equipped, inflamed by predictions of as- 
sured success, followed the Prophet from their ren- 
dezvous in his capital to assail the camp of Harrison 
at the battle-ground. Their defeat was fatal to the 
prestige of the seer, and to the far-reaching designs 
of the greater chieftain, his brother. There was a 
tradition that Tecumseh revisited the Prophet's town 
after it had been burned by our forces ; he may have 
seen its ruins, but the destruction by fire, even of a 
larger city, whose architecture was composed of such 
slight materials, left few remains to be viewed by those 
of a later generation. A heap of ashes, charred rem- 
nants of a post or pole, turned up by the plow of the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES I73 

early settlers, were the only indications of its former 
existence and locality. 

It has sometimes occurred to me that we have done 
a sort of injustice to Tecumseh as an Indianian. Like 
many other inhabitants of our state he came hither in 
early childhood with his father's family from Ohio, 
and thenceforth spent almost his whole life within our 
borders ; a life singularly marked, in one of his birth 
and lineage, by fair repute and noble excellence. He 
was the best and last survivor of those greatest chiefs 
of the warrior bands who contended with our fore- 
fathers for the possession and dominion of the land we 
live in. Tecumseh was a warrior, an orator of sur- 
passing natural eloquence, and a ruler of consummate 
tact and wisdom. He possessed more of the faculties 
and qualities of the statesman than any other leader of 
his race. When engaged in actual hostilities he al- 
lowed no murder of prisoners, no violence against 
women or children, and conducted the campaign in 
strict accordance with the rules of civilized warfare. 

After the disastrous overthrow of the Prophet at 
Tippecanoe, Tecumseh, with his followers, joined the 
British army, and was given a commission of high 
rank in their service. This must have been, like that 
visit of Themistocles to the court of the great king, 
a last resort. He lost his life while fighting bravely 
at the front the battle of his English allies. Death 
for himself was not infelicitous. Even a British vic- 
tory at the Thames in Canada would have availed him 
very little; his grand design of the union and su- 



174 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

premacy of the Indian tribes would have been as im- 
possible of accomplishment under the government of 
Great Britain as under ours. 

The state of Michigan has perpetuated the memory 
of both Pontiac and Tecumseh in two of her cities; 
we have in like manner given such names to Kokomo 
and Winamac. These were leaders of bands of some 
local celebrity, but they bore no comparison to the 
Shooting Star of the Shawnees. 

In the summer of 1899, nearly fifty years after my 
first visit, I made a second tour to the Prophet's town. 
There was even yet no thoroughfare. I chose a new 
way of approach. With some friends who accom- 
panied me we drove down the east bank of the Wabash 
to a point opposite the mouth of the Tippecanoe. There 
lived a farmer who kept a boat for use upon the river. 
We were rowed across the Wabash into the mouth of 
the Tippecanoe, and, taking a path which led through 
the woods from the point of junction to the plateau 
above, we soon stood in the place which I had before 
visited. The landscape showed very little change; 
a few farm-houses were visible on the east side of the 
Wabash formerly not seen there; the trunks of the 
trees of second growth and their tops had grown 
larsrer and somewhat interfered with the view. Corn 
was growing on the adjacent prairie and in the low 
alluvial bottom across the river; but this was a part 
of the old scene ; the place, though not far from either 
the railway or the telegraph, has a wild sequestered 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1/5 

look ; the hand of improvement has hardly touched it, 
and it still remains in some degree inaccessible, like 
the ancient metropolis of Tecumseh. 

In June, 1858, the Democratic convention at Ox- 
ford nominated me for the second time as a candi- 
date for the legislature. The active canvass, with 
its discussion and personal visitations, lasted about 
eight weeks. This was not a presidential year, and 
my hearing and reception were, by the people, some- 
what easier than in 1852, six years before. The cattle 
herders upon the range voted for me in larger num- 
bers and I was returned by an increased majority. 

My second election to the legislature as a Democrat 
from a Whig district, with services in previous cam- 
paigns, had given me a considerable acquaintance in 
the state. When the legislature met I was nominated 
by unanimous consent as the Democratic candidate 
for the speakership. The house was nominally Demo- 
cratic by a small majority, but it contained three or 
four members, who had been elected as independents 
and styled themselves anti-administration Democrats. 
These gentlemen declined to attend our caucus, made 
a complete combination with the opposition and de- 
feated our whole ticket for the organization of the 
house. My successful competitor for the speakership 
was Mr. Jonathan W. Gordon, then, and for many 
years afterward, a distinguished member of the In- 
dianapolis bar. Our defeat was regretted, but much 
more the division in our own ranks; it was the first 



176 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

appearance of that acute schism in the Democratic 
household so fatally developed in i860, two years 
afterward. 

As upon my former service in the general assembly, 
so now, came again the question of the senatorial elec- 
tion, as the first business of the session of 1858, which 
arose in the following manner: the legislature of 
1855, chosen in 1854, had tlie duty imposed upon it 
of choosing a United States senator. But the two 
houses of that body being of different political faith, 
declined to go into joint convention for that purpose. 
Tlie vacancy caused by the expiration of Mr. Pettit's 
term was not filled, and for two years Indiana had 
only one member in the Senate, Mr. Jesse D. Bright. 
The legislature of 1857, chosen in 1856, was Demo- 
cratic on joint ballot; of its two branches the house 
was Democratic, the senate was controlled by the oppo- 
sition. 

Under these circumstances the house appointed a 
day for the election of two senators, one to fill the 
vacancy existing since 1855, the other to fill the va- 
cancy about to occur by the expiry of Mr. Bright's 
term. The senate, as such, ignored this action of the 
house, but the Democratic members of that body left 
their seats in the senate chamber, came over to the 
house on the day appointed, organized a joint con- 
vention and elected Doctor Graham N. Fitch to fill 
the existing vacancy, and Mr. Jesse D. Bright as 
his own successor for a third term, each of them re- 
ceiving a majority of all the votes of all the members 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 77 

elected to the general assembly. The opposition in our 
state, and especially that of the legislature of 1858, 
including the anti-administration Democrats, held that 
the election of Bright and Fitch so conducted was un- 
constitutional and invalid, that both vacancies were 
yet unfilled and that it was their duty to elect two 
senators. They took the ground that the word legis- 
lature, in the clause of the federal constitution relat- 
ing to the election of senators, necessarily implied 
the concurrent action of both houses as such to form 
a lawful joint convention. We contended, on the 
contrary, that the word legislature was not used in any 
technical sense in the clause referred to. and that the 
majority of the whole number of members might 
legally form a joint convention and elect senators 
without such concurrent action. In support of this 
construction we referred to the fact that, at the time 
of making the federal constitution, several of the states, 
notably Pennsylvania, had a legislature composed of 
only one chamber, and that the framers of that instru- 
ment, sitting in Philadelphia, could not possibly have 
contemplated the two houses as such in the use of the 
term legislature, but had used it as we still use the 
word magistracy, to designate the collective body of 
all the persons in the county or state who are employed 
in the duty of administering justice. 

The debate lasted many days ; in the house it became 
quite warm and exciting ; the speaker, Mr. Gordon, left 
the chair to take part in it ; at last a vote was taken and 
we were beaten. No further resistance was offered. 



178 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

We kept our seats, took no part in the proceedings, and 
our colleagues of the opposition held a joint convention 
in which they chose Mr. Henry S. Lane and Mr. Wil- 
liam M. McCarty as senators from Indiana to fill the 
supposed vacancies. I wrote a full argument upon the 
law and facts of the case, closing with an earnest re- 
quest for federal legislation on this question, which 
was seconded by several of my colleagues. It seemed 
to be a careless and somewhat dangerous predicament 
that the legislatures of the states should continue in 
many different ways to elect senators, when Congress 
had the undoubted right to prescribe by law a uniform 
method of procedure. Copies of these papers were 
sent to senators of both parties at Washington. Many 
letters were received in answer. Some of them ap- 
proved, others disapproved the grounds taken in ar- 
gument in the particular case, but all concurred in 
the necessity of congressional action. Yet such was 
the political stress of that troubled period, now ap- 
proaching in the history of our country, that it was not 
until after the conclusion of the war that Congress 
enacted this much needed legislation. On the twenty- 
sixth of July, 1866, an act was passed regulating the 
mode of choosing senators by the legislature. Since 
that time our senators in Indiana and elsewhere have 
been elected according to its provisions. 

Mr. W. H. Seward and Mr. William G . Bayard, who 
were senators in 1858, Mr. Hendricks and Mr. Lane, 
who were senators in 1866, have more than once stated 
in my presence, that it was the Indiana case with its 



yGA^UjL^ 



/2- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 79 

non-election in 1855, and its contested election of 1858, 
that chiefly impelled Congress to take its subsequent ac- 
tion in the premises. The United States Senate held 
that the election of Bright and Fitch was valid. Mr. 
Lane and Mr. McCarty returned from Washington as 
private citizens, but they lost nothing in public estima- 
tion by their journey, nor was the action of our legis- 
lature useless or unprofitable. It led to the passage 
of a general law on this subject, one of the most im- 
portant of our Statutes at large. 

Although very firmly convinced of the correctness 
of our opinion upon the question of the senatorial elec- 
tion, what gave additional zeal to my action was the 
circumstance that Graham N. Fitch, the friend of my 
youth, was deeply interested in the result. He served 
in the United States Senate until March fourth, 1861, 
taking first rank in that body. He was afterward a 
colonel in the army ; he had the choice of many titles, 
but he preferred to be called Doctor. That designated 
his favorite pursuit. He was often and long engaged 
in public employments of the highest character. He 
entered, indeed he was, so to speak, drafted into the 
work of the lecture-room, taught as a professor in 
the medical schools of Indianapolis, Cincinnati and 
Chicago, but always returned to his home — to his 
office in Logansport. To the profession he had given 
his first love, and it never grew old or cold : he contin- 
ued in it almost to the day of his death, not from neces- 
sity, but from the love he bore it. His early labors 
in the active practice were constant and toilsome. He 



l8o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

always drove with two horses. I have met him more 
than once, returning from some distant night-call in 
the country, seated in his buggy fast asleep, while his 
faithful team noiselessly picked their way along the 
corduroy road, seeming loath to disturb the slumbers 
of their master. 

As a public speaker Doctor Fitch was versatile and 
attractive. When he took the stump he bade good-by 
to the physician. There was not the least trace of the 
materia mcdica, either in his manner or utterances, 
nothing of either shop or sham. He had read and 
thought much upon the constitutional principles of our 
government, and had formed his opinions of the proper 
mode of their development by legislation. He cited 
with effect and with precision the writings of Jefferson, 
Jackson, and other worthies of the Democratic school, 
but an authority to be cited by him must always be 
brief and pointed. A skilful disputant, he had great 
powers of apprehension and penetration ; he detected in 
the twinkling of an eye any infirmity or inconsistency 
in the position of an opponent, and as quickly exposed 
it. 

In a prolonged series of joint discussions with Mr. 
Schuyler Colfax he defeated that gentleman for Con- 
gress, the only defeat suffered by him in a long 
political career. During the Civil War Fitch was 
authorized to raise a regiment, the forty-sixth regi- 
ment of Indiana Volunteers, which he subsequently 
commanded in the field. His recruits were gathered 
by a public canvass made by him in his own and 
adjoining counties. Several times I accompanied him 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES lOl 

in this canvass and spoke from the same stand. His 
account of the beginning, course and termination of the 
movement of secession was the most highly finished 
and thoroughly wrought-out discussion of that topic 
I have ever heard. His exhortation to the sons of 
Indiana in behalf of the Union and the constitution 
was irresistible. His regiment was rapidly filled by 
volunteer enlistments to its full complement. Our 
young men were anxious to go with him. 

There is this distinction to be noticed between volun- 
teers and regulars : the regular is somewhat indifferent 
under whom he serves ; the volunteer always wishes to 
know with whom he is going, and is personally in- 
terested in his commander. Somewhat advanced in 
age when he led his comrades to the field. Fitch re- 
mained a year in active service. His military cam- 
paign was efficient and successful, closing with the 
capture of the enemy's works and post at St. Charles. 
He then resigned and returned to the practice of his 
profession in the county of his residence. The regi- 
ment served until the close of the war and was among 
the best of the many furnished by our state to the 
armies of the Union. 

Fitch was the only physician who ever served from 
Indiana in the United States Senate. I have latterly 
reflected somewhat upon this solitary instance. Years 
ago we used to send a good many of our physicians 
to Congress. He, himself, was one of these, and there 
were several others, among whom I recall Doctor John 
W. Davis, of Carlisle, in the county of Sullivan, whom 
I knew quite well. He was the first Indianian chosen 



l82 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

to the position of speaker of the House at Washington, 
and was accounted the best parhamentary jurist in 
this country, perhaps in the world. His rulings were 
quoted as authority in the English House of Commons, 
and more than once in the legislative chambers of 
France. Upon his voluntary retirement from Con- 
gress he was appointed minister of the United States 
to China ; served with distinction among the polished 
diplomats of the Orient, and returned to accept the 
appointment of governor of Oregon. He was the first 
American civilian of official note and station to make 
the trip homeward from the East by way of the Pacific. 
His voyage across the ocean lasted several weeks. I 
have heard that the account of it, then no twice-told 
tale, was a story of thrilling, almost tragic interest. 

In these later times our practitioners of the healing 
art seem studiously to avoid the cares and labors of 
political life. Occasionally you may meet a physician 
in the legislature — even this, as some of their caste 
say, is unprofessional — ^but as a body they appear to 
prefer the position of out-fielders in this arena. There 
are two notable characteristics of the active and skilled 
physician — a close observation of detail and a deft 
attention to the matter in hand — the duty of the hour, 
of the moment. These qualifications are admirably 
suited to the requirements of public life. No more 
favorable hope can be expressed for the future than 
that the members of this great profession will again 
resume an active interest and prominent position in 
the political affairs of the state and of the nation. 



CHAPTER ELEVEN 

THE DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION OF 1860 CAN- 
VASS FOR LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR WITH OLIVER P. 

MORTON THE WAR OF THE REBELLION IN 1861 

WAR MEETINGS AND MEASURES CANVASS FOR CON- 
GRESS IN 1862 AGAINST SCHUYLER COLFAX 

The Democratic state convention of i860 met under 
circumstances of much e^^citement and confused ac- 
tivity. It was attended by full delegations from all 
the counties and by double or contested delegations 
from not a few. Many persons from the counties 
and from adjoining states were present as visitors, not 
all of a friendly character. It was hoped by one class 
of men, and it was feared by another, that the conven- 
tion would be severed in twain and that our campaign 
would begin with an open rift of discord between the 
opponents and the supporters of the administration of 
Mr. Buchanan. 

But the convention adjusted its differences, deliber- 
ated and acted in unity. Thomas A. Hendricks was 
nominated as the candidate for governor, David Turpie 
for lieutenant-governor. The Republican party placed 
in nomination Mr. Henry S. Lane for the first position, 
Mr. Oliver P. Morton for the second. These four per- 

183 



184 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

sons, in the campaign that followed, in respect to the 
offices for which they were named, made only a tenta- 
tive canvass, — such was the understanding in both par- 
ties. If the Republicans carried the state Mr. Lane was 
to be elected to the Senate, Mr. Morton succeeding to 
the governorship; if our party prevailed similar 
changes were to be the result. The election in the fol- 
lowing October carried out in part this arrangement. 
Mr. Lane was elected United States senator. The fu- 
ture in some degree carried it still further. All four of 
these candidates upon the state tickets of i860 became 
senators in this order of service : Lane. Turpie, Hen- 
dricks, ]\Iorton. On this same ticket were the names of 
two other persons, opposing candidates for reporter of 
the supreme court — Mr. ^^lichael C. Kerr and Mr. Ben- 
jamin Harrison. The first named was afterward chosen 
speaker of the House at Washington, and died while 
holding that great position. Mr. Benjamin Harrison, 
twenty-eight years afterward, was elected to the presi- 
dency. It would thus seem that these candidates of 
both parties upon the state ticket in i860 were com- 
posed of a material somewhat durable; the loom of 
time wove for them garments of diverse figures, but 
of a lasting texture. 

The joint discussion between Mr. Morton and my- 
self — for in those days without joint discussion there 
was no canvass — commenced rather early. Our first 
meeting was at Martinsville. Thence we journeyed 
on, usually going from town to town in the same con- 
veyance, sometimes stopping at the same tavern ; once, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 85 

such was the pressure upon the scant accommodations 
of our host that we slept in the same room. Thus 
we made our way until we reached one point, I think 
it was Dover, the capital of the county of Martin, 
where the circumstances attending our arrival were 
such that I now recall them. 

We had traveled all the forenoon, had passed Jug 
Rock and had both got out of the carriage to get a near 
view of that wonderful natural vase: had stopped a 
short time at other places and arrived at a point perhaps 
a quarter of a mile from our destination. Here we saw 
coming toward us from the town a group of about 
thirty people — all men and all walking. We had fre- 
quently before, on entering towns, met committees and 
delegations, who came in wagons or on horseback, with 
flags and music to greet us. but this company had none 
of these things. They made no sign or sound, but 
walked in silence until they met us. They then told us 
the news, which they had just received, that the Balti- 
more convention had nominated 'Mr. Breckenridge for 
the presidency. It was our first intelligence of the 
event. The carriage had stopped ; Air. Alorton got out 
on one side. I on the other ; no one took our places ; the 
driver went into town with empty seats. We chose, 
with our respective friends, different sides of the road 
and arrived at the tavern on foot. 

\\'hile we made this walk there was a continued hum 
of conversation in a low. yet earnest tone, as to what 
would be the effect of this event upon the fortunes of 
the Democratic party and upon our state ticket, and 



l86 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

several inquiries reached already to the question as to 
what effect the election of Mr. Lincoln would have 
upon the people of the southern states. Of course these 
subjects entered largely into the joint discussion held 
that day and those held afterward. I told my compet- 
itor, in answer to his remarks upon the action of the 
Baltimore convention, that he need not flatter himself 
that any Democrat, whether he voted for Mr. Douglas 
or Mr. Breckenridge, would vote for Mr. Morton or 
any other Republican candidate. I was seconded in this 
by the instant response of several voters in the audience 
who were well known supporters of Mr. Breckenridge. 
I also reminded my opponent that in 1848 we had 
elected our ticket by a large majority in Indiana, 
although Mr. Cass, our candidate for the presidency, 
was beaten by the defection of Mr. Van Buren and 
his followers. Our friends, at the close of the joint 
discussion, were in high spirits, well pleased with the 
presentation made upon our side. My own reflections 
were not of so favorable a cast. Our prospects of 
success in the state had been seriously affected by the 
action at Baltimore, but this abated nothing of my 
future efforts. 

Mr. Morton was somewhat my senior in years; he 
was then in the prime of intellectual and physical 
vigor, was an accomplished debater, and had made, in 
1856, an unsuccessful but extended canvass for gov- 
ernor, which had given him an enlarged experience 
of campaign life. Prior to 1856 he had been a mem- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 187 

ber of the Democratic party and was said to be- 
long to its ultra or extreme section. I did not take 
the initiative in charging him with these political 
changes, though our press, and often persons in the 
audience, would do this. But, although personal sallies 
occasionally took place between us, this joint debate 
was mainly very grave and thoughtful. It may be 
proper for me to say, at'least in behalf of my distin- 
guished competitor, that it was an able and thorough 
discussion of the questions then mooted between the 
two parties, having reference both to the result of the 
pending election and to the future potential conditions 
of the whole country. 

After the completion of these joint discussions with 
Mr. Morton I returned to make a canvass in northern 
Indiana. It was now somewhat later in the campaign ; 
on all sides were evidences of an approaching po- 
litical disaster. In some of the counties, especially 
in those of the northwestern part of the state, there 
were instances in which the whole county cabinet, 
elected two years before as Democrats on the regular 
ticket, had changed their party affiliations while in 
office, and had carried their friends and relations 
across our lines into the Republican quarters. At 
many of my meetings it was openly stated by persons 
known before as Democrats, by some of these, that 
Mr. Douglas was the greatest and purest statesman 
of the age; by others, that they had the highest regard 
and esteem for Mr. Breckenridge, but they said it was 



l88 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

impossible for either of these gentlemen to be elected ; 
they should vote for Abraham Lincoln. Still they 
professed loyalty to the Democratic state ticket. 

In October we suffered a defeat not unexpected. 
The congressional district in which I resided returned 
Mr. Colfax to Congress by a majority of several thou- 
sand — a majority, as I afterward learned, which might 
be reduced but could not be reversed. The majority 
against us in the state corresponded somewhat with 
the vote cast for Mr. Breckenridge in November. I 
never entertained the opinion that the whole body of 
Breckenridge voters had given their support to the 
Republican state ticket. Our discomfiture was princi- 
pally due to the Breckenridge movement, yet that did 
not make necessary the supposition that this was ac- 
tually accomplished by the vote of its supporters. In 
an aggregate vote of hundreds of thousands, ten or 
fifteen thousand is a moderate estimate of that neutral 
corps of indifferents who invariably desert a failing 
cause and pass over to the winning side. The candi- 
dates upon the Democratic state ticket, thus beaten, 
retired to private life; in my own case, to the active 
practice of the law. 

The great Civil War of the last century commenced 
in April, 1861. A crowd of sensations are recalled 
by the mere mention of the war for the Union. The 
feelings incident to that time of prolonged but un- 
wearied expectancy, of alternate hope and depression, 
relieved only by the quickened pulses of final success, 
though they were then a part of our every-day ex- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 189 

perience, can hardly now be realized. They have been 
somewhat overlaid or submerged by succeeding events 
and vicissitudes and have thus yielded to the influences 
of the actual present. The stage of public action has 
been gradually filled by other figures, whose dimen- 
sions are enlarged for the reason that they are closer to 
our view. 

In Indiana that year there was no election, no po- 
litical canvass, yet it was a period rife with popular 
assemblies. They were held in every town and city, 
in almost every township of the state. These meet- 
ings were called Union or War meetings. They were 
strictly non-partizan in character, were attended by 
men and women of all political parties, and had for 
their object the growth and maintenance of the mili- 
tary spirit, and the enlistment and equipment of volun- 
teers for the military service of the government. When 
it happened that some one was present upon such occa- 
sions who had served as an officer or soldier in the old 
war with Mexico, he was always called to the stand. 
Then we eagerly heard from an eye-witness something 
about the actual business of warfare. We heard of the 
march, the bivouac, the sentinel on his rounds, of 
the charge, of the attack and the repulse. Our whole 
people were engaged in learning the elementary les- 
sons of a state of war, and in making preparations 
for that condition, — preparations too long delayed but 
now cheerfully begun and loyally continued. 

In these first days many things depended upon 
private and voluntary effort. The administration, just 



igO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

come into power at Washington, was slowly feeling 
its way, and seemed, as yet, to have no well defined 
relations with that all-powerful public opinion which 
afterward was to support and uphold it. The per- 
sons successful at the previous election, members of the 
legislature and others, were most of them new men, 
unaccustomed to public life. They were well enough 
affected toward Mr. Lincoln and his cabinet, yet they 
appeared somewhat surprised at the course of events, 
and were much bewildered by the conflicting opinions 
of their leaders as to the probable extent and duration 
of the war upon which we had entered. Under these 
circumstances the people acted chiefly upon their own 
motion. In many a farm-house of Indiana, by many 
a fireside, the old folks at home took counsel together 
as to which or how many of the sons of the family 
should go to war ; all wished to go ; whole companies 
and regiments were raised in excess of the number 
called for by the proclamation of the president. I do 
not recollect seeing at these meetings any regular mili- 
tary officer connected with the government, not even a 
recruiting sergeant — the recruits and recruiting officers 
were our friends and neighbors ; they were all volun- 
teers, they waited not for conscription. 

Many of our young men engaged in preparing them- 
selves for the occupations and professions of civil 
life, others who were attending schools and colleges, 
abandoned their classes and their studies and entered 
the army. Some of these had then, as now, left the 
state to seek their fortunes elsewhere; a number 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES IQI 

of them returned home in order that they might en- 
list with comrades and commanders whom they knew. 
Women cheerfully accompanied their friends and rela- 
tives to the field to act as nurses and attendants in the 
campaign. The whole state continued for a long 
time to be a vast recruiting camp. Although the mili- 
tary events of the first year of the war were not of the 
greatest importance, yet the utmost anxiety was shown 
concerning them, so that when a battle had been 
fought, the people resorted in crowds to the county-seat 
or the railway station to learn the latest intelligence. 
Hence arose at this time the custom, not before in 
general use. of the taking of the daily newspaper by 
persons living in the smaller towns and in the country ; 
this increased largely the circulation of those publica- 
tions and has been measurably continued since. 

As soon as the newly raised troops departed to en- 
gage in active service an immense correspondence be- 
gan between the people at home and the army. All 
the moving accidents and exploits by flood and field 
were depicted by eye-witnesses, and the local press 
teemed with letters from the front; thus the zeal and 
spirit of the original movement were renewed and re- 
plenished, nor was there any abatement until the sur- 
render of the enemy and the final cessation of hostil- 
ities. 

Indiana, so often spoken of as a pivotal state, never 
showed its attitude as such in more noble and efficient 
form than in those memorable days of preparation that 
followed the attack upon Fort Sumter. The state had 



192 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

been long known for its strict fidelity to all the cove- 
nants of the constitution and its steadfast loyalty to the 
government thereby established. The people of such 
a commonwealth could therefore with greater justice 
take up arms against those who were attempting the 
destruction of both. The uprising in behalf of the 
Union was general, and was accompanied by intense 
enthusiasm, touching and transforming to its use all 
the agencies and activities of life; insomuch that a man 
living in those times might well think that the old 
adage should be amended to read : Where there is a 
will, there are a thousand ways of doing what a free 
people have a mind to do. It was a movement having 
no parallel even in the annals of our race, except per- 
haps the rising of the people of England in the reign of 
Queen Elizabeth against the threatened invasion by 
the Spanish Armada. 

This movement in our state was not the result of 
any partizan action, and it had no connection with the 
violent anti-slavery sentiment, then so rife in many of 
the eastern and northern states; still less was it in- 
spired by hatred of the southern people or prejudice 
against their institutions. It had its source in a de- 
voted attachment to the Union of the states — a senti- 
ment which brooked not for a moment the thought 
that New York and New Orleans should become cities 
situated in different nationalities, or that the free navi- 
gation of the Ohio and the Mississippi should become 
the subject of treaty agreement between two foreign 
powers. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 193 

What makes the Civil War and its results so useful 
and instructive a study is that we may read, in the ac- 
count of it and its consequences, of the displacement 
and extinction of fanaticism, and the ultimate ascen- 
dancy of reason, wisdom and magnanimity. In these 
consequences the extremists of both sections were bit- 
terly disappointed. Those of the South desired the 
establishment of a separate and independent Con- 
federacy recognizing the perpetual servitude of the 
colored races. The extremists of the North looked for 
the formation of a provincial dominion of subjugated 
states, whose white inhabitants, under the control of 
the central power at Washington, should he stripped of 
their autonomy and be subjected to the local supremacy 
of their former slaves. It is a justification of the 
warmest eulogy ever pronounced upon free constitu- 
tional government that both these designs were frus- 
trated. 

Mankind may learn from the course of these events 
that there was then in the world a nation that could 
make war upon a scale of colossal grandeur unknown 
before, and at the same time could make peace upon 
terms of amnesty so large and liberal as to be followed 
by a complete reconciliation, and by a union of the 
states even more perfect than that of the original com- 
pact. The moral and political ideals of that genera- 
tion seemed to be more massive, higher, nobler than 
our recent standards; this may be looking backward; 
it is also looking upward. 

In any historic aspect of the lapse of time. In- 



194 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

diana, with its inhabitants, is yet a community young 
and new; it may be destined to last for ages, but it 
can never recur to grander memories than those of the 
part it bore in the war for the Union, and in the great 
task of reconstruction and pacification afterward. 

In this highest task of statesmanship Mr. Hen- 
dricks, then a senator from Indiana, always foremost 
in the aclvance but never out of sight, was a pioneer. 
He marked out and cleared the way that others fol- 
lowed ; the end of that way was peace. 

In July, 1862, in my absence, I was unanimously 
nominated by the Democratic convention of the ninth 
district as a candidate for Congress against Mr. Schuy- 
ler Colfax. I had not sought this position, yet would 
not decline it. Arrangements were made in the se- 
quel for a series of joint discussions between the two 
candidates. The district was accounted reliably Re- 
publican, and was large, comprising fourteen counties ; 
the field to be traversed in the canvass extended from 
Mishawaka to Oxford. These joint meetings were 
held at all the county-seats and at many other places 
in the more populous counties; the time occupied was 
about six weeks of successive speech days, omitting 
Sundays. At each of these meetings there were two 
timekeepers and two moderators, chosen by the re- 
spective parties. The order was that no one was to be 
admitted to the stand except these four and the two 
speakers, but in the tumultuous excitement of those 
days this rule was sometimes violated and the crowd 
around us became so dense as to be oppressive. The 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES IQS 

whole time of the joint discussion was three hours. 
The party who began spoke an hour in opening and 
had half an hour to close, the other spoke an hour and 
a half in the interval; and this order alternated from 
day to day. 

These meetings were well attended, two or three 
thousand being a not unusual audience. They were 
often held out of doors in the woods, quite distant 
from railway lines. Even county-seats in the district, 
like Rensselaer, Knox, Oxford and Rochester, were 
then inaccessible save by journeys in the wagon or 
stage. In such assemblies were found the best men 
of both parties; the people were anxious to hear the 
debate and did not often tolerate perverse interruption 
or disorder. Such was the intense and eager politi- 
cal feeling of the time that no account was taken of the 
weather. On several occasions we addressed large 
crowds of men and women standing in the rain ; some 
of them had umbrellas, others were without shelter, 
but none left the ground ; all tarried to hear even the 
last words of the closing reply. 

The care and precaution of the committee of ar- 
rangements for the preservation of order were heartily 
seconded by the audience and by the candidates. For 
although we were conducting a canvass in the very 
face of those bitter strifes and animosities engendered 
by the existence of a civil war, my competitor and my- 
self both intended that no social war should result 
from our controversies. 

Both parties united in preparing the platform for 



196 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the speakers, and seats for the audience. The main 
stand was always decorated with the national flag, 
with wreaths of cedar, green boughs, and garlands of 
wild flowers — the goldenrod and the asters, white and 
blue. Very little money was spent in these decora- 
tions. They might be to-day accounted cheap and 
trivial, yet they were real tokens of respect for the 
occasion, part of the manner and custom of the time. 

It is somewhat difficult to conceive that the mo- 
mentous questions then engrossing public attention, 
the speakers who engaged in their discussion, and the 
enthusiastic audiences who heard them and who 
greeted their respective champions with thundering ac- 
clamations of welcome and applause, belong now to a 
past so still and quiet. The past, like the future, is 
robed in silence. 

My speech usually began with a plea for the Union, 
urging its perpetual maintenance against all enemies. 
The presentation of this theme was such that it com- 
menced to be spoken of among some of the people as 
better and stronger than that of my opponent. Mr. 
Colfax, supposing that he might in some manner em- 
barrass me, turned rather abruptly toward me while 
he was speaking one day, and remarked that if his 
competitor was such a devoted friend of the Union, he 
should shoulder his musket and help fight its battles. 
I said nothing at the moment, but when my time came 
to answer I told the people I was entirely willing to 
shoulder my musket and fight the battles of the Union, 
but was onlv waiting until Mr. Colfax should be com- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 1 97 

missioned as colonel to raise and organize a regiment ; 
that I would volunteer in it as a private and would re- 
main in the service as long as he remained in the com- 
mand. My competitor never repeated this method of 
attack. 

Once during this canvass we spoke at a railroad 
junction, the stand being in a grove not many yards 
from the crossing. I had the opening, had been speak- 
ing ten minutes and was just about making certain 
points pungent and apposite, when a locomotive that 
had run in on the switch close at hand began to blow 
and whistle, and continued to do so several minutes, 
wholly drowning out my words and voice. Thinking 
that this was only an accident, I proceeded with an- 
other section of my discourse and had just reached an- 
other similar passage when the locomotive lying there 
on waiting orders made a longer and louder interrup- 
tion than before, and I observed signals passing be- 
tween the engineer in the cab and persons near the 
stand. While I was waiting in some embarrassment, 
the chairman of our county committee, who was in at- 
tendance, came up and in a low voice advised me to go 
on, to pay no attention to the interruption, and to take 
up my hour; he said that he would make the matter 
right and satisfactory. I accordingly proceeded to 
finish my remarks, although many of them were in- 
audible, owing to the continued noise of the engine, 
which left the switch and went away upon the main 
track just at the close. 

]\Ir. Colfax rose to follow me. He had spoken per- 



198 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

haps fifteen minutes and had just reached one of his 
highest and best flights when another engine, which 
had come up and was standing in the same place, on 
the same switch, commenced and continued a deafen- 
ing discharge of blasts and blowing. My competitor 
stood aghast, but smiling. There had been a change 
of politics in the engineers. This was what our chair- 
man wished to signify in what he had told me. Mr. 
Colfax continued his address and the locomotive was 
steady and loud in its responses during the whole time 
of its stay. After it left us Mr. Colfax had half an 
hour in quiet to conclude and I had the same time to 
close. As we were leaving the stand I asked him 
how he liked the new method of applause by steam. 
He replied that they had carried the matter too far, 
entirely too far. This did not occur again. 

In the election of 1862 the Democratic party car- 
ried the state and the legislature; Mr. Colfax was, 
however, reelected. 



CHAPTER TWELVE 

THE SENATORIAL ELECTION OF 1 863 SENATOR LANE 

ALBERT S. WHITE PRESIDENT LINCOLN CHIEF 

JUSTICE TANEY DEMOCRATIC STATE CONVENTION 

OF 1864 GEN. MAHLON D. M ANSON SECOND RACE 

FOR CONGRESS AGAINST MR. COLFAX THIRD RACE 

FOR CONGRESS AGAINST COLFAX, HIS SUCCESS AND 
SUBSEQUENT ELECTION TO THE VICE-PRESIDENCY 

The legislature elected in 1862 met at Indianapolis 
in January, 1863. It was Democratic on joint ballot; 
there were two United States senators to be chosen, 
one for the remainder of Mr. Bright's term, the other 
for the full term of his successor. But one name was 
spoken of for the full term, that of Thomas A. Hen- 
dricks ; he was nominated by acclamation. There was 
an animated and somewhat prolonged contest between 
the friends and opponents of Mr. Bright, touching his 
return to his former seat ; but before the meeting of our 
caucus that gentleman withdrew his name as a candi- 
date. I was nominated on the first ballot for the re- 
mainder-term. Mr. Daniel D. Pratt, of Logansport, 
was my Republican competitor for the position and re- 
ceived the full vote of the ])arty therefor in both 

houses. 

199 



200 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

After the election I called at the governor's office. 
Mr. Morton gave me my commission with his best 
wishes for my personal success, observing also that 
the honors of our party had been justly and deservedly 
awarded. This remark I repeated to Mr. Hendricks, 
since it was doubtless intended as a compliment to both 
the senators elect. All these things were very pleas- 
ant. I made directly the journey to Washington, but 
encountered there at the very threshold a state of 
things not so agreeable. My immediate predecessor 
in the Senate was Mr. Joseph A. Wright, who was 
holding the seat under appointment by the governor. 
The usage and precedent of the Senate had been that 
the predecessor in the seat, unless their personal rela- 
tions forbade it, should be charged with the credentials 
and the introduction of his successor. Upon my arrival 
at the capital the Democratic members of the House 
from Indiana waited upon me in a body to say that 
this precedent must be ignored. They charged that 
Mr. Wright, after having been highly honored by us, 
had left the Democratic party, had used all his ability 
and influence to overthrow it in the late election, and 
that the Democracy of Indiana would not permit that 
he should be in any way recognized. I wished to ob- 
serve the precedent but did not care to incur the cen- 
sure of an opposition so strong and unanimous. An- 
other senator was requested to take charge of my 
introduction. Mr. Wright did not take the slightest 
notice of this action. As soon as I was seated he 
came to my place in the Senate, accosted me in the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 201 

friendliest manner, and invited me to dine with him 
the same evening. I called at his lodgings for that 
purpose; his rooms were large, comfortably furnished 
and convenient to the Capitol ; the affair ended in my 
renting and occupying the apartments which he was 
about to vacate. 

Mr. Lazarus W. Powell, one of the senators from 
Kentucky, took charge of my credentials. He walked 
with me arm in arm to the desk, where we met the vice- 
president, Mr. Hannibal Hamlin. I was sworn ac- 
cording to the ancient form, the oath being taken upon 
the four Evangelists. The vice-president extended 
toward me his hand in which he held a copy of the 
New Testament, which looked as if it had seen much 
service. My right hand was lightly laid upon it, he 
repeated the oath, and at its close I bowed and kissed 
the book. It was a stage kiss. This ceremony has 
since fallen into disuse. The oath is now adminis- 
tered in the common form, with the uplifted right 
hand. The book and the kiss have both vanished. 

There were at this time only fourteen Democrats 
in that body, mostly from the border states. The ma- 
jority in the Senate included many gentlemen of great 
legislative capacity and of varied political fortunes ; 
but it was a strange medley in respect to its partizan 
antecedents. It was composed of such men as Mr. 
Charles Sumner and John P. Hale, original abolition- 
ists, who had never affiliated with either of the old 
parties ; of men like Preston King and David Wilmot, 
who had been Democrats, and of otiiers like my col- 



202 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

league, Henry S. Lane, and Jacob Collamer. who had 
been Whigs, but yet acted and voted together with 
almost constant unanimity. Mr. William P. Fessen- 
den was the ablest debater in the Senate, as he would 
have been in almost any deliberative body of that time. 
Even when beaten in some particular contention, a 
very rare occurrence, he dexterously turned about and 
discharged a Parthian arrow in retreat, which always 
wounded and sometimes transfixed his adversary. 

My colleague, Henry S. Lane, was the first Republi- 
can senator from Lidiana. He had previously served 
with distinction in the House, had been an officer in 
the Mexican War, and was publicly commended for 
valor on the field of Buena Vista. His political prom- 
inence was not due to the labors of any trained personal 
following or to the use or abuse of federal patronage. 
His particular friends and supporters were found 
among the ranks of the people who, upon the public 
questions of the time, thought and voted as he did, and 
these were only to be numbered by the count of the 
vote of his party at the polls. They admired his im- 
passioned oratory upon the hustings ; they deferred to 
his wisdom in council; they confided in his political 
integrity and in his high sense of personal honor. 

These were splendid qualifications for a public ca- 
reer. It may be questioned whether any better have 
since his time been discovered. Men in the mass 
he had studied carefully and knew, though with indi- 
viduals he had little occasion to deal; and he enter- 
tained a wholesome contempt for anything that 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 203 

savored of artifice or intrigue. His retirement from 
public life in 1867 was wholly voluntary, and it was 
absolute. When he had given his last vote" in the 
Senate the record was closed. 

A few days after this my colleague asked me if I 
had met the president, and we made an engagement 
to call together at the White House. We went early 
in the forenoon, and found Mr. Lincoln alone, sitting 
with a law-book open before him. He rose upon our 
entering, still holding the book in hand, using the 
finger as a book-mark. As soon as the introduction 
was over he said: "Gentlemen, I have been looking 
into the books about this matter of the blockade at 
Charleston." It happened that on the day before 
the newspapers contained the mention of a proclama- 
tion issued by the Confederate authorities at Charles- 
ton, S. C, reciting that a vessel had sailed out of that 
port carrying as passengers the English and French 
consuls ; had spent twenty- four hours outside the har- 
bor, and had returned without seeing anything of the 
blockading squadron. It was claimed that this was 
a breach of the blockade, authorizing the procla- 
mation that it had been raised and could no longer 
be lawfully enforced. The president continued his 
discourse to us, saying: "I have been looking into 
some works of international law upon this subject. 
Some of these authorities seem to hold that a vessel 
seeking to enter the port, after lying outside twenty- 
four hours without hindrance from the blockading 
squadron, may lawfully pursue her voyage to its des- 



204 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

tination; but I find no case holding that any such 
rule applies to a vessel coming out of the blockaded 
port. Why," said the president, "this is very much 
as if a man had been hooped up tight in a hogshead, 
and should contrive in some way to knock the bung 
out, and then issue a proclamation through the bung- 
hole that he was free; he wouldn't be loose, would 
he? I shall pay little attention to this Charleston 
manifesto." We both readily assented to this con- 
clusion and took our leave. 

No one met me, nor did I meet any one at Wash- 
ington, with more pleasure than my friend Albert S. 
White. He had previously served in the House and 
Senate as a Whig; now in his old age he had been 
elected to the House as a Republican. But these po- 
litical changes had not affected in any way the goodly 
and gracious personality of the man. 

We had lived in the same section of our state, and 
though the tide of events had separated us, yet we 
had at home many personal friends and acquaintances 
common to both. One of them had taken office at 
the beginning of the new administration and in the 
course of his service had fallen into some embarrass- 
ment that required executive action for his relief. 
We called upon Mr. Lincoln together concerning this 
affair. The president informed us that the papers 
in the case had reached his desk, that he had not over- 
looked them, neither had he as yet looked over them 
very closely. Mr. White made a full statement of 
the facts; I followed with some remarks about the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2O5 

law of the case. IMr. White resumed, speaking of his 
long acquaintance with the man, his honesty and good 
faith; among other things of an instance in which a 
large sum of money had come into his hands, for 
which he was not bound by any note or bond, yet he 
had fully accounted for it, principal and interest, with- 
out suit. Mr. Lincoln, as I noticed, paid very close 
attention to this, shifted his legs upon the knees, a 
bodily habit of his, and seemed to be much moved by 
parts of his recital. When Mr. White had finished, the 
president said: "Gentlemen, I shall carry this case, 
as we say in Illinois, over to the chancery side. We 
all know what statutes are made for — it is to see that 
the right thing is done ; it- is my duty to take care that 
no innocent man is wronged by them ; by that rule I 
shall be guided." We went away feeling hopeful as to 
our mission and were not disappointed in the result. 

One of the finest traits in Mr. Lincoln's character 
was his genial affaliility and his self-engrossment, for 
the nonce, in the subject submitted to his considera- 
tion. He listened upon such occasions with the air 
of one who has no other business, nothing on his 
mind, no care or concern whatever, except to hear 
and attend to the matter in hand. He closely observed 
even the most casual gesture or remark of those pres- 
ent, so that in conversing with him, exaggeration or 
understatement were alike to be avoided. Sometimes 
he closed an interview with a single question going 
directly to the gist of the subject. If you were not 
well prepared with a satisfactory answer it was best to 



206 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

take time for reflection, and if upon further thought no 
such answer was suggested, it was needless to reopen 
the subject ; you then knew the president had designed 
that it should thus be closed. No one ever left his 
presence without feeling that he fully apprehended 
what action was required of him, and why it was re- 
quested — a thing very different from either granting 
or refusing a request, yet involving a labor of courtesy 
and kindliness which those in exalted stations are not 
always willing to undergo. It was not hard to con- 
ceive that greatness inhabited a mind where goodness 
was so often apparent. 

Mr. White did not desire to be a candidate for re- 
election to the House. At the expiration of his term 
he was appointed by the president and confirmed by 
the Senate as a member of an Indian commission. 
Talking of this some time afterward, Mr. Lane said 
to me that he supposed it would be the last we should 
hear of our old friend. It happened that in a few 
months a vacancy occurred in the United States dis- 
trict judgeship for the district of Indiana, and he was 
immediately nominated and confirmed for that ofBce, 
but died in a short time thereafter. All Mr. White's 
preferments were due to the personal favor of the 
president. Mr. Lincoln was not at all careless; he 
was very cautious in the bestowal of his friendship 
and confidence, but when they were once given they 
were given wholly, without reserve. It may be said 
there might have been an unworthy recipient ; he 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 20/ 

never chose an unworthy recipient when he acted upon 
his own personal judgment and observation. 

I have since deeply regretted that Mr. White did not 
live some years to preside in the federal courts of our 
state. He would have brought to the duties of the 
bench great store of legal learning and acumen, the 
most patient diligence in all his work, accompanied 
by an inborn courtesy, an urbane sua\'ity of manner, 
which much becomes those who sit in these high tri- 
bunals. 

Although I was a new senator, yet the Democratic 
conference committee, and notably its chairman, Mr. 
William G. Bayard, of Delaware, insisted, as we were 
so few in number, that I must take the floor. I ac- 
cordingly made a speech upon what was known at the 
time as the IMissouri Bill ; I had also a running de- 
bate with Mr. Henry Wilson, a senator from Massa- 
chusetts, upon the comparative loyalty of the two 
states which we in part represented. Indiana did not 
lose anything in this encounter. Mr. Lane and other 
senators of the majority side congratulated me warmly 
upon its conclusion. 

On the fifteenth day of February, 1863, I was admit- 
ted as an attorney to the bar of the Supreme Court of 
the United States upon motion of my colleague, Mr. 
Henry S. Lane. Roger B. Taney, the chief justice, pre- 
sided on the day of my admittance, and directed by 
order the subsequent qualification and certificate. I 
called upon the chief justice more than once after- 



208 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ward, with senators from his own state, Maryland, 
and with others of his acquaintance. He was then 
beyond seventy and showed bodily some of the in- 
firmities of age ; mentally he was bright and vigorous, 
his countenance being of a well marked intellectual 
cast ; his eyes had not grown old, but looked very 
young set in a face so venerable, full of thought and 
feeling. He was the successor of John Marshall in 
the court and in the chair of its presidency, and, which 
is much to say, was worthy of the succession. He 
had been, before his appointment to the bench, attor- 
ney-general and a prominent member of the cabinet 
during the administration of General Jackson, — an ad- 
ministration which encountered the most violent and 
unscrupulous opposition, yet always overthrew it. His 
manners were plain and simple, kindly with dignity. 
He reminded me of Blackford. There was not the 
slightest intimation or assumption of superiority in 
his private intercourse, yet you did not forget in his 
presence that he was chief justice of the United States. 
The Democratic state convention of 1864 met at 
the Metropolitan Theater in Indianapolis. I was 
chosen president of the convention for the first time. 
The delegations from the different counties were 
full and there was an attendance that day not seen 
before and such as has never been seen since. Gen- 
eral Henry B. Carrington, commanding the depart- 
ment of Indiana, with certain members of his staff 
in full uniform, had seats upon the stage. Mr. Joseph 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 209 

E. McDonald was nominated for the office of gov- 
ernor, David Turpie for that of lieutenant-governor. 

I had made some progress afterward in my can- 
vass for the lieutenant-governorship and had just at- 
tended and addressed a Democratic convention held 
for some local purpose at Princeton. After the meet- 
ing, returning to the hotel, I was engaged in conver- 
sation with several gentlemen of that part of the state, 
when a letter was handed me which had arrived dur- 
ing my absence. Without interrupting the conversa- 
tion the letter was unopened until these gentlemen 
left for their homes. It informed me that the con- 
vention of the ninth district had unanimously nomi- 
nated me for Congress against Mr. Schuyler Colfax. 
I completed my other appointments in the Pocket, 
as this southwestern part of Indiana is ordinarily 
called, and returned to Indianapolis. Here Mr. Mc- 
Donald and other friends met me. I did not wish 
personally to determine the cjuestion whether to re- 
main a candidate upon the state ticket or accept the 
race for Congress. We agreed that it would be best 
to refer this matter for determination to a joint ses- 
sion of the state and district committees. Such a 
meeting was held, and after a full discussion of the 
C[uestion, in accordance with their determination, my 
resignation of the candidacy upon the state ticket was 
made and preparations were begun for the congres- 
sional canvass. 

General Mahlon D. Manson was nominated for the 



2IO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

place of lieutenant-governor. This was his first state 
political preferment; it did not avail him at the time 
but he was fortunate in the sequel. He was then ab- 
sent with the army in the field and did not return to 
take any part in the campaign. Afterward he became 
a member of Congress, auditor of state, lieutenant- 
governor, and collector of internal revenue in the 
Terre Haute district. He was a citizen and soldier of 
the best qualities, and of unwavering fidelity to his po- 
litical principles; was a Democrat of the strictest school 
and for many years, from 1866 to 1886, took a very 
active part in the public canvass of the state. Little 
attention was paid in his speeches to what are called 
the elegancies of gesture or diction, but they were 
noted for stirring appeals to his former comrades in 
arms, and for an earnest force and directness well be- 
coming the martial bearing and presence of the vet- 
eran. The people were well acquainted with the 
record of his gallant service in the war with Mexico 
and in the war for the Union. They honored his old- 
style plain and primitive manner of address with 
willing and attentive audiences ; for courage and 
patriotism never go out of fashion. 

The campaign for Congress between my competitor 
and myself in this second trial of our strength was 
conducted in the same mode and to the same extent 
of time, and travel as it had been two years before. 
Mr. Colfax, in this canvass of 1864, when the close of 
the war was within measurable distance, urged, with 
great emphasis, that voters of all parties should set 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 211 

aside their differences of political opinion, should dis- 
card their partizan predilections and rally to the sup- 
port of the administration then in office. 

Doubtless it is the duty of men of all parties to 
support the government engaged in the prosecution of 
a war against a public enemy, whether foreign or do- 
mestic. But this is a very different thing from say- 
ing that all citizens should dissolve their party organi- 
zations, surrender their political convictions and unite 
in electing a president and members of both houses 
of Congress wholly of the same party. Such a unity 
would only lead to an unchecked, unchallenged sys- 
tem of incompetency, corruption and oppression. 
Minority and majority parties are, in a free govern- 
ment, necessities as useful in time of war as in peace. 
An administration happening to be in power is not 
the government. The government of this Republic 
is worth more than this administration or any other 
and will outlast them. This was our position ; it 
was openly taken and upheld and it was never relin- 
quished or abandoned, not even in the utmost ex- 
tremity of disaster. 

Mr. Colfax was again elected, yet not by so large 
a majority as he had sometimes formerly received. 

In July, 1866, I was again nominated by acclamation 
for Congress, and thereafter made with my opponent, 
who was speaker of the House at Washington, the 
third joint campaign in the same manner as before. 
Our last joint discussion, the last in which either of 
us was engaged, was held at Knox, in the county of 



212 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Stark, on Saturday preceding the election in October. 
The number in attendance was large and enthu- 
siastic on both sides. When we had completed our 
three hours of joint debate we were tired and ex- 
hausted. This was the seventh week of the canvass, 
for the committee, overborne by importunities, as the 
district was becoming more populous, had added six 
speech days to the list. We sat for a while upon the 
stand, until the crowd had dispersed. As we were 
then going down the steps together, Mr. Colfax 
turned toward me and asked if I thought I had beaten 
him ; I answered that the day was now so near at 
hand when it would be known, that it was hardly worth 
while to make a conjecture. Mr. Colfax replied that 
he did not know what the result might be. but he knew 
one thing certainly — he should never make another 
race for Congress in that district ; the labor was too 
great, too exacting. He kept his word ; indeed neither 
of us ever made another race for Congress. He was 
again elected. 

These three successive campaigns with their accom- 
panying joint discussions covering a period of six 
years, made between the same competitors, with the 
same result, are perhaps without a parallel in the his- 
tory of our state. The notably distinctive feature in 
them was the unchanging stability of both parties in 
their choice of candidates. That the party uniformly 
successful should have retained in its service the same 
candidate is not so singular, but that the minority 
party, under these circumstances, should have steadily 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 213 

adhered to its defeated candidate is somewhat uncom- 
mon. 

After the meeting at Knox I returned home, be- 
took myself to the work of the bar in the courts, well 
contented in my work and satisfied with its rewards. 

Mr. Colfax was again chosen and served two years 
as speaker of the House, and at the close of his term 
was inaugurated vice-president of the United States. 



CHAPTER THIRTEEN 

INDIANA STATESMEN AT WASHINGTON IN 1869-7O 

SENATOR PRATT COLFAX AND MORTON CANVASS 

OF 1872 THE COUNTY OF BROWN JAMES S. HES- 
TER ELECTION OF MR. HENDRICKS TO THE GOV- 
ERNORSHIP 

I visited Washington several times during General 
Grant's first term in the presidency, upon business of 
my profession, and met there upon the floor of the 
Senate Mr. Pratt, my former law preceptor, who had 
succeeded Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Morton, who had suc- 
ceeded my colleague, Mr. Lane, and Mr. Colfax, who 
had no immediate predecessor in the vice-presidency 
and was the first Indianian to hold that ofiice. It 
was a gratification to see our state so ably represented, 
although I was in no sort of political accord with this 
representation. I dined with Mr. Pratt at his rooms 
on Capitol Hill ; they were not far from the Senate 
chamber; he had become rather corpulent, and pre- 
ferred always to walk but not for too long a distance. 
He was then the leading member of the Senate com- 
mittee upon claims ; he liked his place and the duties 
connected with it. being chiefly engaged in passing 
upon cfuestions of law and fact in the line of his former 

studies. 

214 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 21^ 

He told me that he was somewhat surprised at the 
consequences resulting from his labors. He offered 
a bill, or a clause in a bill, in the Senate carrying some- 
times one, two, or three hundred thousand dollars, 
and it passed without a word of inquiry or objection. 
The reason for this was well known. They had care- 
fully observed his first reports and papers, and they also 
knew from intercourse with his fellow members of 
the committee his diligence, impartiality and sense of 
justice. They now had the fullest confidence in his 
judgment. When Mr. Pratt reported favorably upon 
a claim no senator questioned its validity. 

He did not often address the Senate, but made one 
speech which has had a long history in the sequel. It 
was made in behalf of the claims of southern loyalists 
upon the justice and generosity of the government. 
It dealt largely with the legal principles relating to 
these claims and laid down with systematic order 
those rules which should govern Congress in their 
adjudication of such cases. These rules have since 
been followed, quoted and cited as authority. This 
speech, a copy of whicli I still have, sent to me under 
his personal frank, closed with such an appeal for 
reparation to the Unionists of the South, for losses in- 
curred by reason of their fidelity to the government, 
that even senators were said to listen with moistened 
eyes to its moving pathos. 

I never thought that j\Ir. Pratt personally regretted 
his retirement from public life. His native heath and 
home were to be found in tlie court-room before a jury 



2l6 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of his countrymen. An argument to a jury, delivered 
upon the facts of the case in the close, was by him very 
seldom made in vain. He was tall in stature, some 
inches over six feet, and well proportioned in his whole 
figure. His voice when raised to its full pitch and vol- 
ume might literally be well likened to the sound of 
many waters. He had a fluent command of the best 
classic English, but made no use of this in attempting 
to translate the language of a witness — those pithy 
home-spoken phrases in which our people often de- 
scribe the edge or ending of a transaction. He did not 
translate these, he quoted them verbatim, and re- 
peated them with such tone and unction that they were 
graven into the memory of the hearers. No advo- 
cate ever transposed himself more completely into 
the place and condition of his client. It is said that 
a jury in one of the northern counties, in a strongly 
contested case where he had appeared and spoken as 
counsel, returned their verdict in these words : "We, 
the jury, find for Daniel Pratt." Of course they 
were instructed to amend the form of their verdict 
and they did amend it, but this shows the identifica- 
tion of the counsel with his side and cause. His 
advocacy of a case upon jury trial was without fault 
or flaw, a model to the younger men of the profes- 
sion who gathered round him, as worthy as it w^as 
difficult of imitation. 

Perhaps a virtue deemed so trite ought not to be 
here mentioned, but Mr. Pratt, to use the phrase 
the people often applied to him, was a man of un- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2iy 

common honesty, of the purest probity in all his deal- 
ings. Though possessed of an abundant competency, 
he was not rich in the twentieth century acceptation 
of that term. His useful and almost invaluable 
service in the Senate added nothing to his fortune ; the 
salary did not equal his emoluments from the practice 
of the law, and no gains ever came to him save those 
gathered with a good conscience and with honor be- 
yond the suspicion of reproach. 

When a man who has held high and responsible 
positions in public life now dies poor, the fact may be 
blazoned to his credit far and wide ; at the same time 
there is a class of persons, too numerous, who won- 
der with a foolish face of praise why he did not take 
advantage of his opportunities. Many speak well of 
his integrity ; not a few are somewhat disposed to 
blame his abstinence. In this divided state of public 
sentiment we may justly claim that this great leader 
among men shall be for this, his honesty, as well as for 
his other excellences, long honored and remembered. 

On the occasion of one of my visits to Washing- 
ton, Mr. Colfax and myself called on President Grant, 
We went in the evening at half after seven o'clock; 
we were shown into a room on the south side of the 
executive mansion where we met the president and his 
family, and spent an hour in conversation very pleas- 
antly. Mr. Colfax had the familiar entree at the 
White House. It was one of those instances, not 
very common, in the social life of the capital when 
the vice-president was the personal friend and intimate 



2l8 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

associate of the president. We then went to call on 
Senator Morton. I had been requested to call and 
Mr. Colfax wished also to see him. 

We found him at his room in the National Hotel, 
lying in bed partly undressed, suffering from rheu- 
matism or sciatica, to which he was subject. He was 
glad to see us, — said it was a relief to him. We had 
a lively and general conversation about events then 
current in Indiana and elsewhere. The senator and 
the vice-president had a dialogue between them about 
the business, or rather the order of business, pending 
in the Senate in which they were interested. After 
this there was a little pause in which Mr. Colfax sug- 
gested that as I had given them both a great deal of 
trouble in my time now w^ould be a good opportunity 
to deal with and despatch me. Morton grasped his 
cane, Colfax came forward to arrest me by the coat 
collar, but I claimed the privilege of the floor, insisted 
I had come there upon terms of a peaceable parley, 
and at last we agreed upon a truce not to be broken 
until the opening of the next campaign. 

When we left the hotel Mr. Colfax proposed a walk 
and we strolled away together. During this walk 
he told me that he had determined to quit public life 
at the expiration of his term, and that he thought of 
engaging in the lecture-field. In respect to his retire- 
ment, I was surprised to hear it, since his name was 
often and favorably used in connection with a place 
yet higher than that which he held. In regard to the 
lecture-field I gave him my best wishes for his sue- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2ig 

cess, saying that he had every requisite to attain it, a 
national reputation, voice, vigor, and a style of com- 
position admirably adapted to that purpose. And so 
it proved. He became one of the most popular plat- 
form speakers in the United States. 

It may be observed that I had many and varied pas- 
sages of acquaintance with Colfax and Morton. But 
my relations with them were adverse and controversial, 
those of intercourse rather than of intimacy. Col- 
fax and Morton were both men of extensive reading, 
of good general attainments, diligent students and 
close thinkers in certain lines of research. No natural 
element was wanting in either of them for the achieve- 
ment of that success to which they aspired. Morton 
was a lawyer of such superior talents and learning, 
that when he abandoned the practice to enter upon 
public life, he left in the bar and circuit to which he 
belonged a well marked vacancy. Colfax, it was said, 
had been educated in his youth for the same profes- 
sion, and had been admitted to the bar, though he had 
never been engaged in the practice. I always sur- 
mised that, in his law-readings, he had rather taken 
a lunch than made a full meal. His manner of speech, 
though a fine one, was not that of a lawyer. He was 
fluent and fully informed upon his favorite subjects, 
not so well beyond. In the history of current Ameri- 
can politics, that of his own age and of the anti- 
slavery movement in this country in its whole develop- 
ment, he was the best informed man of his time, 
either in or out of Contrress. Herein he had exact 



220 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

knowledge of date, place, person, every particular, 
wonderfully at his command. He was the readiest 
debater I ever met, very quick in retort and repartee. 
When a new point was made against him or his party 
it was hard for him to wait ; he rose to his feet out 
of time, out of order, to thrust in a reply ; this reply 
was not always an answer; he was sometimes caught 
or clipped in the rejoinder. 

Morton, in such a case, did not seem to pay any 
attention to the new matter ; he ignored it, perhaps for 
a day or two, but on the third day afterward he made 
his answer, and unless his opponent was well braced, 
wary of guard and skilful of fence, he suffered an 
overthrow. The manner of Morton, whether in the 
Senate or in a popular assembly, was that of a prac- 
tised advocate. His speech was an argument pro- 
ceeding regularly from premise to premise. He told 
no stories, made no repetitions, sometimes made use of 
irony or satire, but these must be closely akin to the 
main subject. He did not say firstly, secondly,, and 
thirdly, but paid his audience the compliment of think- 
ing that they could, without these aids, follow him in 
his course ; and they did so to his conclusion, — a con- 
clusion always placed upon firm, high ground strongly 
intrenched and fortified. Mr. Colfax reached his 
conclusion or climax also, often one of great power 
and magnificence, but it was somewhat emotional, 
founded upon feeling or sentiment. Colfax took pos- 
session of an audience much sooner than Morton, with 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 221 

more grace and facility, yet this hold was not so lasting 
or retentive as that of his distinguished rival. 

Mr. Colfax had and needed a great deal of tact in 
the management of affairs inside the lines of his 
own party organization, especially toward the close 
of his career. After the Civil War was ended of the 
officers and men who had seen service those belonging 
to the Republican political household claimed a full 
share of public honors and emoluments ; they largely 
displaced civilians in these preferments. Mr. Colfax 
was a civilian ; he never had any official relation to, 
or connection with, the army. He did not, like Mor- 
ton, control appointments, commissions or promo- 
tions. In his pathway to the speakership and the 
vice-presidency he encountered these military aspir- 
ants, and paid a good deal of that toll exacted by envy, 
yet he outgeneraled them all. Under the first soldier 
of the Republic he held the second office in the govern- 
ment. This was one of the salient features of his 
career, and it is to be noted that he accomplished this 
with so much discretion, and with such an air of com- 
plaisance, as to retain the respect and support of all 
his competitors. He gave no offense, no cause of 
quarrel, yet achieved the mastery. 

Mr. Morton's course was vastly different. He 
made little attempt to placate opponents or to assuage 
animosities within his party. It used to be said of 
him by his Republican opponents that he was very 
much opposed to slavery except among the ranks of 



222 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

his own followers ; their condition was one of abject 
servitude. Persons that were not docile and tract- 
able under his rule he labored diligently to disparage 
and suppress. None of these things were necessary 
to him in the performance of his useful service to the 
state and the country; they were not at all needful 
to the maintenance of his ascendancy in the councils 
of his party ; he was easily at the front without them ; 
but he preferred to assert his leadership and to exer- 
cise its functions in this manner. Our Democratic 
success so soon after the close of the war may have 
been in some measure due to the Republican revolt 
against this sort of domination. Hendricks was 
elected governor, McDonald became senator, and our 
electoral vote was cast for Tilden — all in the lifetime 
of Morton. 

I have always thought that the retirement of Mr. 
Colfax from public life occurred at a period for him 
very fortunate. Whether or not he had tlie executive 
abilities requisite to the discharge of the duties of 
the first office in the Republic, they can not be denied 
to him. It can never be said of him, as was said of 
the Roman emperor by Tacitus, that every one would 
have thought him worthy of reigning had he not 
reigned. 

He had presided first in the House and then in the 
Senate, the two great chambers of our national legis- 
lature, for many years ; and he had earned world-wide 
repute by his service in these high positions. When he 
laid down the gavel for the last time he became a his- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 223 

toric character ; he took leave of the Senate and bade his 
countrymen farewell in his best and most perfect form 
and figure, in the noontide summer of his fame. 

The administration of Morton as war governor has 
been the theme both of unmeasured detraction and 
panegyric. It deserves neither. As a chief magis- 
trate in the regular discharge of constitutional duty 
he was no model. As a political leader, placed in a 
position of uncontrollable power, his course may be sus- 
ceptible of a somewhat favorable consideration. He 
opposed the proclamation of martial law in the state, 
a measure more than once seriously entertained and 
seconded, yet he himself did many things possible 
only under that system. 

The true method of estimating his conduct is to 
regard it, as it actually was for the time being, that of 
an absolute ruler. In the exercise of this extreme 
authority he recognized certain limitations ; they were 
not limitations of law or of constitutional right, but 
simply the suggestions of his own prudence and dis- 
cretion. In a particular class of cases, he knew that 
he might go far beyond the ordinary line of legal pro- 
cedure. Public, or rather popular, opinion not only 
tolerated but vehemently approved this course. Here 
he stayed his hand. 

His most arbitrary acts were done openly, under the 
plea always made in such cases, of military necessity 
or of the public safety. The arbitrary acts which he 
forbore to do, though often urged to their perform- 
ance, were much worse in character, as they would 



224 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

have been in their consequences, than those he com- 
mitted. 

What's done, we partly may compute 

But know not what's resisted. 

He was a veritable type of the spirit prevalent in 
that age, a virile exponent of the aims and purposes 
of the intense partizan school. This partizan in- 
tensity seemed to grow with his years; it did not de- 
cline when the causes that had at first engendered 
it were diminished. His posthumous fame, therefore, 
may have incurred some injustice, and for the same 
reason his capacity otherwise is not shown in its due 
proportions. Like another Oliver, the great ruler of 
the English Commonwealth in the seventeenth century, 
whom he in some respects resembled, his political 
course was not free from inconsistencies, but these 
were merged and harmonized in one object, the suc- 
cess that attended him. What was merely said of 
Burke might be emphasized in largest capitals of Mor- 
ton : he not only gave up, but deliberately surrendered 
and devoted to party what was meant for mankind. 
Hence his reputation, though extensive and well es- 
tablished, is great within certain metes and bounds; 
yet it is such as he chose to make it. 

His views of our national policy not connected with 
partizan interests or action were just and comprehen- 
sive. During his service in the Senate they were often 
made known, always strongly stated and vigorously 
upheld. Since his day they have been little studied 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 225 

or exploited. After his death they lapsed. Many 
wore his yoke but none his mantle. It is hard to take 
to pieces, to depict separately, the features or linea- 
ments of such a character. The effect of the whole, 
upon those who knew him, was so impressive as some- 
what to obscure the parts. In regard to these it is 
easier to say what he was not than what he was. 

To speak of one particular, avarice had no place in 
his nature. In a time not free from corruption, prone to 
the adulation of wealth and rife with the sordid tempta- 
tions of self-interest, he lived and died no richer than 
when he first took office. Herein is an exemplar most 
laudable. This tells of him much more than monu- 
ments may show, better things than eulogy can utter. 

Republican partizans desiring to compliment some 
one of their modern leaders, often liken him to Morton. 
These persons seem to forget that Morton was a man 
of great intellectual strength, as well as of the finest 
executive talents; that during the whole period of the 
war for the Union, when we had more than one hun- 
dred regiments in the field, and when the civil list was 
also necessarily much enlarged, and long after this, he 
had, as governor and senator, as far as it concerned 
this state, the entire control of patronage, federal and 
local, civil and military. Who now has, or can have, 
such a following? Circumstances have not since ex- 
isted to make a leader of any party, moving and act- 
ing in such an extensive, almost boundless sphere of 
opportunity and power. In this, as in many other 



226 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

respects, he stands and will stand for many a day, 
alone and unapproachable. 

I made in 1872 my largest canvass of the state, 
visiting and addressing the people in fifty-one counties, 
not as a candidate for any office, but, as I have been 
often, before and since, what is known as a free lance. 
Mr. Hendricks, our candidate for governor, had made 
an appointment for Nashville, which he found it 
impossible to fill, and I was detailed by the committee 
for that purpose. My journey thither from the North 
was made by the way of Morgantown. It was, in 
its entire course to Nashville, up one declivity and 
down another ; for the good county of Brown is a com- 
monwealth seated among the hills, many of which 
approach the dignity of mountains, with correspond- 
ing valleys and ravines. 

The inhabitants of these hills were a people hardy, 
industrious, intelligent, very religious, unalterably at- 
tached to the Democratic party, genial in their inter- 
course with one another, hospitable to strangers, 
neither unwilling nor unable to give a reason for the 
faith which they professed, either in matters of Church 
or State. School-houses and churches abounded among 
them. They had no railroad nor telegraph exchange, 
no saloons, no delinquent list ; and their jail was nearly 
always untenanted. I had visited Nashville and spoken 
there ten or twelve years before. Upon that occasion, 
after speaking on Saturday, I had spent Sunday in 
town, and the next Monday and part of Tuesday in the 
country, as the guest of Mr. James S. Hester, a gentle- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 227 

man of rare mental and social qualities, whom I had in- 
deed met often before, but not at his home. He was a 
cheerful companion, a lawyer of superior attainments 
and a legislator of approved experience. His friends 
sometimes wondered why he had taken up his residence 
in Brown ; they said he could have made much money 
by a change; yet he was the wealthiest man I ever u/ 
knew — he wanted no more than he had. 

We traveled together three days through the coun- 
try-side; visited Wake-Up and Gnazv-Bonc; went to 
Bcar-Wallozu, Possum-Glory and Pazvpaw-Paradisc 
— very pleasant hamlets, slightly woodland ravines, al- 
though some of them labor under the disadvantage of 
such quaint misnomers. We made the ascent of Weed- 
Patch Hill, said to be the highest elevation of land in 
the state ; and indeed the spectator of the view from the 
summit may well fancy that he is in attendance upon a 
mass-meeting of the hills, from which not one is ab- 
sent ; the whole sweep of the horizon is filled with their 
presence. 

My friend's political sway in this county palatine 
approached omnipotence ; but his was a generous rule, 
the voluntary tribute of his people, who, to use their 
own expression, looked up to him in all things. Mr. 
Hester, one or two years after this, came to see me at 
Monticello. He was a devoted member of the ang- 
ling persuasion. I took him to all the favorite fish- 
ing grounds along the Tippecanoe River and he was 
very successful in those hook-and-line excursions. We 
drove far out into the Grand Prairie, in the midst 



226 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

of the sea of grass and flowers which then covered 
its surface, level as a floor. He was pleased with the 
landscape, so much in contrast with that of his home. 
He remarked, however, that this part of the country 
lay too flat on its back, hence there were no springs. 

We then went to some of the smaller neighboring 
streams, the Iroquois, the Pinkamink, the Monon, and 
the Metamonon. He never tired of repeating these 
names, especially the Monon and the Metamonon. 
They reminded him of Homer. He conceived the 
fancy that this region must have been at some very re- 
mote period of antiquity the site of a Greek colony who 
spoke the Ionic dialect, and that these remnants of the 
music of the language had survived in the names of 
the streams. When we had finished our tour and the 
time came to leave, we presented him with the freedom 
of the city, with a perpetual franchise in the fisheries. 
No guest ever departed more richly dowered with the 
good will and wishes of those he left behind him. 

We had a very fine meeting upon my second visit 
to Nashville in 1872. My welcome was warm and 
earnest. My friend, Mr. Hester, was absent. The 
whole county cabinet had also been changed, — the 
chairman and the committeemen. Friends surrounded 
me on all sides, but they were for the most part new 
friends, in new places. I had noticed these frequently 
recurring changes elsewhere and had given them some 
consideration. 

The mutations in these official and semi-official po- 
sitions are due mainly to three causes : mortality, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 229 

which is a cause natural ; rotation, which is the result 
of custom, law and usage ; and removal, which last 
cause has been within tlie last thirty years orreatly 
aided by the increased facilities of travel. The former 
strong attachment of our people to their ancestral 
homes and acres has been somewhat abated. One 
may find in every town and county many instances 
of families long settled in their domicile, who, being 
suddenly seized with the spirit of exodus, have sold 
their possessions and left the state. You may meet with 
these voluntary exiles from Indiana in California, 
Oregon, Texas, Florida, even in the islands of the 
sea — 

Where the remote Bermudas ride 
In the ocean's bosom unespied. 

Among these manv an old county officer, ex-chair- 
man or committeeman has departed from his erstwhile 
constituency. When you meet one of these exiles in 
his new habitation, and have crossed his hospitable 
threshold to spend the day, you commence to talk 
with him about bygone political times and incidents 
in his former home; at first he smiles broadly at his 
own expense ; he is thinking how he could ever have 
been so intensely engaged or interested in such mat- 
ters. But in a little while he is himself caught by 
the humor of reminiscence ; he recounts in detail the 
trials and troubles of his first canvass and begins to 
talk of his acquaintance with Hendricks, Morton, Wil- 
lard or Whitcomb, and other ancient worthies; he 



230 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

dwells Upon their sayings and doings with unalloyed 
satisfaction and delight. 

Not until the night is far spent do you and your 
host retire ; and when you reflect afterward upon these 
communings, among the new and strange surround- 
ings of that distant home, the whole scene appears so 
unreal and visionary, you may almost fancy that you 
have been listening to some crusader of centuries long 
ago, relating legends of Count Baldwin or of Richard 
the Lion-hearted in their warfare against the Saracen 
for the recovery of the Holy Sepulcher. 

Mr. Hendricks was this year elected governor. It 
was his third canvass for that office. Former defeats 
had not affected his popularity and he was the only 
person of either party who had been three times hon- 
ored by a nomination for that position. His success 
was in a great measure due to his personality, his 
recognized capacity and eminent qualifications for the 
chief magistracy. At the time of his third candidacy 
for the governorship he was as widely and favorably 
known throughout the Union as any of the candi- 
dates upon the presidential tickets. It was fortunate 
for the state that this election occurred in October; 
in November following the result might have been 
different. 

The massing together of state and federal elections 
every four years is a doubtful policy; it was once 
beaten but afterward prevailed. Under this method 
the character and qualifications of candidates for gov- 
ernor and other state offices are lost sight of. merged in 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 23 1 

the overwhelming strife of the national contest. These 
candidates become mere dependents — local appendages 
to the presidential ticket. The importance of the state 
government is thus diminished and for the time, in 
some degree, overshadowed and disregarded. 

This method was urged principally upon the ground 
of economy, and it may perhaps have saved a modi- 
cum of time or money. The undisturbed and more 
perfect freedom incident to a separate state election 
did, without question, cost something; the loss of it 
may cost more. 



i 



CHAPTER FOURTEEN 

ELECTION TO THE LEGISLATURE IN 1 8/4 JOSEPH E. 

MC DONALD THOMAS A. HENDRICKS BENJAMIN 

HARRISON LAST FUGITIVE SLAVE CASE IN INDIANA 

MR. JUSTICE DAVIS JUDGE WALTER Q. GRESHAM 

CAMPAIGN OF 1 8/6 ANTECEDENTS OF THE CAM- 
PAIGN PRIOR COURSE OF POLITICAL DEBATE CAN- 
DIDACY OF SAMUEL J. TILDEN GOV. JAMES D. WIL- 
LIAMS 

In the summer of 1874, being- then a resident of 
Marion County, I was nominated by acclamation in 
the Democratic county-convention as one of the can- 
didates for the legislature. Having always been of 
the opinion that a member of our party should not 
decline a call thus made, I accepted the nomination. 
The canvass of the county was made in the amplest 
form. I spoke in all the townships, and twice in each of 
the city wards. Our whole ticket was successful and 
I was subsequently chosen speaker of the house. 

The house of representatives was a body of some- 
what curious composition. From a source of influence 
unknown, a universal cry of protest, in all parties, 
had swept over the state against the return of lawyers 
to the general assembly. There were in the member- 

232 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 233 

ship of the house not more than ten lawyers, and not 
more than that number who had seen any former 
service. I was rather strict in the enforcement of the 
parHamentary rules ; indeed the circumstances required 
this. The members were nearly all farmers, active 
and intelligent, strangers, however, to the rules which 
they had adopted ; they became restive under their 
operation. But this assembly, although so largely 
composed of one element, did not go to any extremes; 
its legislation was useful and salutary; we did one 
thing generally commended. We elected Mr. Joseph 
E. McDonald to the United States Senate, a gentle- 
man whose superior the state has not seen in that 
service. The preference of our party for Mr. Mc- 
Donald had appeared early in the campaign. Mr. 
Hendricks, then governor, gave him a cordial, active 
support, and specially congratulated the members of 
both houses upon a choice so admirable. 

It has been the fashion to call these two eminent 
leaders rivals ; they may have been such, but their ri- 
valry was of the most honorable character. The poli- 
tician who traduced one of these gentlemen to the 
other invariably lost the confidence of both. They 
neither formed nor tolerated the existence of factions 
in their political household. Each sought in his own 
way to use the talents given to his charge for what he 
believed to be right and patriotic purposes, and thus 
honestly to win the respect and regard of his fellow 
citizens and of mankind. 

Mr. McDonald was our leading constitutional jurist. 



234 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

The federal constitution was the Bible of his political 
faith and he never contemplated the possibility of its 
being overthrown or superseded any more than he an- 
ticipated the revelation from Heaven of a new gospel. 
All doctrines, measures and policies he brought, both 
in letter and spirit, to the test of constitutionality. He 
had the rare faculty of making the discussion of these 
subjects on the stump attractive to the people. He was 
not at all narrow-minded, and did not overlook the fact 
that there might be two sides to such controversies ; he 
saw and often presented, with singular candor and pre- 
cision, both sides, but never halted between two opin- 
ions ; he carefully chose his side, that which his rea- 
son and judgment commended, and adhered thereto. 
He was not without ambition; he cherished aspira- 
tions of the highest character, as pure as they were ele- 
vated. Public favor he did not undervalue, but yielded 
not one jot or tittle of principle or opinion to attract or 
retain it. 

The argument made by him at Washington in the 
case of Bowles and Milligan, against the legality and 
jurisdiction of the Indianapolis military commission, 
followed by the decision of the supreme court sustain- 
ing every position taken by him, constitutes a perpetual 
muniment of the liberty of the citizen. His intellectual 
temperament was a happy compound, in equal parts, of 
caution and of confidence. 

Mr. Hendricks, richly endowed with social as with 
intellectual qualities, had a mind eminently practical 
and constructive, definitely devoted to ways and means. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 235 

His theory of public action was always accompanied by 
a formed plan or design and by an advocacy unrivaled 
in its adaptation to his purpose. The rehabilitation of 
the South, the just representation of the states in Con- 
gress, the preservation of states rights under the consti- 
tution, were grand policies espoused by him, which he 
lived to see carried into execution. During the ad- 
ministration of President Johnson he was the Demo- 
cratic leader in the Senate, as he was and continued to 
be the acknowledged champion of that great conserva- 
tive sentiment, pervading all parts of the country, that 
brought about the return of the people of the seceded 
states to their former practical and peaceful relations 
with the federal government. This result was accom- 
plished against a partizan majority by a minority leader 
who had upon his side the aid and favor of two asso- 
ciates, truth and justice. 

As the presiding officer of the Senate he afterward 
sat in that historic chamber and beheld the full quorum 
of all the states present and voting under his parlia- 
mentary rule. His philanthropy, his love of mankind 
and of liberty, kept pace with his statesmanship. Hence 
his sympathy so often and so eloquently expressed in 
behalf of the liberal movement in Ireland, and for the 
French Republic in the days of Thiers and Gambetta, 
at the time of its earliest inception, when encourage- 
ment and recognition were reinforcements to the cause. 

At one period in their course during the Civil War 
these two conspicuous citizens encountered a condition 
of public oi)inion somewhat harsh and repellent, llie 



236 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

supporters of the administration then in power took the 
position that any dissent from its poHcy was disloyal 
and that the advocacy of such dissent gave only aid and 
comfort to the southern Confederacy. This position 
thus assumed by them was founded upon one truth — 
that the Union was in danger ; and upon one available 
fiction — that they alone could save, or desired to save 
it. These two champions of dissent admitted the 
truth that the Union was in danger, but in every law- 
ful form and manner they controverted the fallacy 
with which it was accompanied. They were living 
and acting in a very serious age, a time of rapid transi- 
tion, of violent changes, of hurried readjustments, 
of intense activity ; they had little leisure for dalliance 
with doubt, with despondency or indecision. One 
very obvious trait in the characters of both was faith 
— faith in their cause and in themselves as its repre- 
sentatives. 

It may be granted that this is a trait quite com- 
mon, yet much herein depends upon quantity. A 
little faith is a common and little thing, but a be- 
lief like theirs, full, large and abounding, is not a 
small thing. — it is one of the greatest. Armed with 
this faith they rebuked the spirit of intolerance and 
fanaticism then so prevalent. They would not be si- 
lenced, but insisted upon the right to be heard, until 
men became willing to listen, anxious to hear once 
more the language of reason, of justice, of common 
sense — common sense, the home of the mind, whither 
after all its wandering it returns at last. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 237 

In the time now written of, 1875, in the tenth year 
after the close of the war, McDonald was senator, 
Hendricks was governor — facts of brief mention but 
the summary of a long and troubled history. It was 
a history of continuous and toilsome political labor 
without return, seemingly without the chance of 
requital, of persistent misrepresentation by enemies, 
of frequent desertion by pretended friends, and of hope 
ardently cherished in every vicissitude of fortune. 

Their election to the high official stations which they 
now held and adorned, not only answered but refuted 
the groundless accusations of their adversaries. The 
people of the state had thus commended their conduct, 
had in the most public manner recognized their un- 
selfish devotion to the Union and its cause. 

Though in quite independent circumstances, neither 
of these two men was wealthy, in the present mean- 
ing of that word, nor cared to be. In prudent 
husbandry of their resources, in the foresight of 
taking advantage of opportunity by investment, they 
were not lacking; yet from a natural bent of heart 
and mind they absolutely declined to consider the 
money cult as the chief aim in human existence. To 
attain excellence in the profession which they had 
chosen, above and beyond this to instruct the people 
in the lesson of their rights, to warn the multitude 
against the encroachments of lawless power — this was 
their purpose and high resolve. 

In the sterile indifference, now so often apparent, 
to any subject not savoring of profits to accrue, it is 



238 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

a wholesome and pleasing recollection that there were 
those in our state that dwelt here and walked the 
streets of its capital, who renounced the too engrossing 
pursuit of private fortune and devoted their time, their 
labor and their very great abilities to the service of the 
people. 

Hendricks and McDonald were both politicians and 
statesmen of the highest type and character, men of un- 
questioned personal integrity and honor. They vied 
with each other in their common support of the or- 
ganization and constitutional principles of the party of 
their choice. They were not merely active and promi- 
nent in the sunshine of popular favor — in the darkest 
days of misfortune and disaster they cleaved to their 
political faith with unshaken courage and fidelity. 
Both had in their time a great deal of the world's 
notice, yet more of its abuse and calumny. Conscious 
of their own rectitude they literally lived down the 
contumely and proscription of their partizan opponents. 
They were Democrats in deed — by nature, not merely 
in name — moved much in the open air of society, min- 
gled with all classes, and knew their brother men by 
actual and intimate association with them in their most 
familiar moods, over an exceedingly wide range of 
conditions. They were not half-hearted in this work. 
How far the ills of life were aggravated by evil laws, 
how much they might be cured or amended by good 
measures, — these were the problems that engaged their 
most studious thought at home and elsewhere. 

They were the acknowledged leaders of the Demo- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 239 

cratic minority in Indiana for many years. During 
that time they encountered a presidential schism in 
their own ranks, as bitter, acrimonious, and destructive 
as any that has since occurred. During the same 
period they passed through the ordeal of the Civil War 
and its momentous sequel, which brought to the sever- 
est test the discretion, prudence and sagacity of those 
who conducted the counsels of an opposition. Their 
public canvass of the issues of that day gave tone and 
direction to the younger members of the organization 
and to the conduct and utterance of the masses of their 
adherents. This canvass had in its style no feature 
of extravagance either in statement or illustration. 
It was a calm, rational, temperate, yet very earnest 
exhortation in behalf of their own tenets, accompanied 
by a measured but intensely aggressive denunciation of 
certain policies of the majority then dominant. They 
had no attractive allurements to offer those who fol- 
lowed them, no patronage or places at their disposal. 
Such a leadership required qualities far superior to 
those of the presumed but really untried statesman, 
who has naught to do but trim his sails to the popular 
gale and be borne onward by the flow of ever-recurring 
majorities. It is true they were both often defeated ; 
mere success was not the touchstone of their labors, 
l^hey preferred duty to honors, they chose patriotism 
rather than place. Their reward was found in the 
life they led, in the race they ran, not in its prizes. 

It was the misfortune of their party and of the coun- 
try that neither of these gentlemen attained the presi- 



240 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

dency. They were at different times the chosen favor- 
ites for that position of Democratic constituencies who 
had known and honored them from youth to man- 
hood, thence to mature and ripened age. They were 
not sudden growths of casual and inconsiderate ma- 
jorities, but trained veterans in the science and practice 
of statesmanship. Under the guidance of either we 
should have had an administration of national affairs, 
wise, prudent and energetic, of the highest repute at 
home and abroad, strictly within constitutional limi- 
tations and well marked by the purity and simplicity 
that characterized the best era of our earlier presidents. 

Mr. McDonald was succeeded in the Senate by Mr. 
Benjamin Harrison. No men were ever more con- 
trasted opposites in opinion and policy, yet the link thus 
made in our senatorial succession was one of the 
strongest ; strong in purity, probity and sincerity. Sen- 
ator Harrison afterward became president, and Gov- 
ernor Hendricks became vice-president of the United 
States. Hendricks and Harrison were names of great 
celebrity in the annals of the state and country long 
before their recent representatives, so well known in 
our time, became prominent in public life. The politi- 
cal course both of the earlier and later leaders who 
bore these names now belongs to history; the poli- 
cies which they supported or opposed may divide the 
opinions of posterity as they have divided those of the 
present and of a former generation. 

The fame of the two recent representatives of these 
names has an extensive field, bounded by no lines of 



I 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 24 1 

party, state or country. Their memory is honored 
not only here but in lands other than their own — in 
not a few beyond the sea — throughout the world 
wherever freedom has a friend or home. Both of 
these, though not needing it, had the prestige of an- 
cestral renown. They were men of such character, 
genius and capacity, as to have achieved, if they had 
not inherited, distinction. They have given new luster 
to names already memorable. 

The service in the house as speaker was my third 
and last term in that bodv. There are no g-raver 
duties and responsibilities of a public nature than those 
of a membership in the legislature. The general as- 
sembly of the state should be not only the school, but 
the sphere, of the highest and purest statesmanship in 
the land. My own service was in its period fortunate. 
It occurred under three different governors — Wright, 
Willard and Hendricks. They were gentlemen of 
liberal acquirements, capable of large and extensive 
designs, thoughtful students of the manifold interests 
and resources of the state, intimately acquainted with 
the genius and character of its people; they were 
stanch, wise and loyal servants of the enlightened 
constituencies that had chosen them. When the time 
came, in March, for adjournment, at the close of the 
special session of 1875, the speaker had regained some- 
what of the good will and friendship of his fellow 
members, yet there had been no sacrifice of parlia- 
mentary rules or order for the sake of popularity. The 
policy of a just and fair enforcement of the rules will. 



242 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

in any legislative assembly, furnish its' own vindica- 
tion. 

About this time I was employed with other counsel 
in the last case brought in Indiana, or perhaps else- 
where, under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave Law. 
This action was begun upon the official bond of a for- 
mer United States marshal of this district against him- 
self and his sureties, for damages in allowing the es- 
cape of certain negroes held to service whom he had 
taken into custody. The negroes had fled from their 
masters, who lived in Kentucky, had been caught by 
the marshal in St. Joseph County, near the Michigan 
state line, and were committed temporarily to the jail 
at South Bend for safe-keeping ; after their committal 
they broke jail and were never retaken. These events 
occurred in the winter and early spring of 1861, just 
before the commencement of the war. There was no 
question of limitations in the case : the bond in that 
respect was a valid obligation. The defense might 
have pleaded that diligence had been used by the mar- 
shal in committing the prisoners to the custody of the 
county jailer, an appointee of the sheriff. We pre- 
ferred, however, to take the broader ground that before 
the suit had been commenced slavery had been abolished 
by constitutional amendment; that the people of the 
states, acting as lawmakers, had the same power and 
authority as to rights, as the legislature had concerning 
remedies, and that a statutory remedy could not be en- 
forced after the constitutional provision upon which it 
was founded had been annulled and abrogated. This 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 243 

defense was sustained, and such was the confidence in 
the correctness of the decision that no appeal was 
taken. This cause was heard and determined in the 
federal court at Indianapolis by David Davis and 
Walter 0. Gresham sitting as judges. Both these 
gentlemen, after the decision, often spoke to me of the 
case and of the defense therein. Among the mass of 
their official business it had received their special at- 
tention and dwelt in their remembrance, 

Mr. Gresham had not then been long upon the bench. 
He afterward served as judge in the United States 
circuit court ; as postmaster general, and as secretary 
of state at Washington. He became an efficient mem- 
ber of two presidential cabinets, being one of those 
rare characters equally fitted for judicial station and 
for executive action. During his service in the army 
he won the personal respect and friendship of General 
Grant, and was repeatedly promoted for the intrepid 
discharge of duty in the field. Judge Gresham was a 
native of Indiana, and in his early life a resident of 
Corydon, our former capital, 

Mr. David Davis was at this time one of the justices 
of the supreme court of the United States, and a very 
eminent member of that body. He resided at Bloom- 
ington, Illinois, and came regularly once a year to hold 
a term at Indianapolis, until his election to the Senate 
and conse(|uent retirement from the bench. His an- 
nual appearance among us was a personal reminder 
we do not now have of the existence and jurisdiction 
of our hiofhest lep"al tribunal. 



244 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

The anti-slavery agitation of the last century in this 
country had a much earlier origin, but it first began 
to assume large partizan proportions in the period ex- 
tending from 1848 to 1856. After this latter date 
the old political division of Whig and Democrat, which 
had before pervaded the whole Union, almost disap- 
peared. The dominant parties in the several states 
North and South were divided upon strictly geograph- 
ical lines. 

I recollect very well hearing Governor Willard 
make the remark, shortly after his election in 1856, 
that we had beaten the Whigs and Native Americans — 
they would never appear again; that we had not been 
thus far much aided or injured by the free-soil ele- 
ment; yet a still harder struggle was approaching. 
It seemed almost impossible to convince the present 
generation of voters that they were bound by the con- 
stitutional covenants concerning slavery and that they 
ought to stand by them. 

This was a just forecast of political conditions in 
i860. The generation of voters of that time, both 
in the North and South, declined to be bound by the 
terms of the national compact upon that subject. In 
one section they demanded greater and further guaran- 
ties, in the other they protested against those already 
existing. 

There was in the northern states a feeling larger 
than that of any party, somewhat indefinite as to its 
purpose, but of irrepressible force — a genuine expres- 
sion of popular opinion, that slavery was incompatible 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 245 

with the g-enius of free American commonweaUhs, and 
that it should not receive further federal support or 
recognition. 

From 1856 to 1866, for ten years, political discus- 
sion upon the stump was almost wholly engrossed by 
this subject. During this whole decade the Demo- 
cratic party of the North continued to stand by and to 
uphold what were known as the compromises of the 
constitution. The opposition party in the northern 
states proclaimed, notably in Indiana, the gospel of 
freedom, free soil, free speech, and free men. It was 
a noble theme, yet its proclamation was accompanied 
with much admixture of uncharitableness and error in 
its course and consequences. It was styled the cause 
of Heaven, though it received some blemish from the 
imperfect and infirm human agencies employed in its 
service. 

The Democratic party in the North stood upon its 
traditional platform. That party had long before, and 
has often since, manifested its signal fidelity to our 
constitutional covenants. It has ever said : What is 
written is written : let us obey the law as it is until 
it be changed in lawful manner. One of its oldest 
maxims, well worthy even now of repetition was : "A 
strict construction of the constitution and no assump- 
tion of doubtful powers." Pledged by manifold en- 
gagements to the maintenance of these constitutional 
covenants, the party made no desertion — it kept its 
promise to its hurt — until in the North every state and 
a large majority of the congressional districts were en- 



246 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

rolled with the opposition. The northern Democracy 
thus acting did not favor the institution of slavery as 
such ; they were not averse to emancipation, but they 
were opposed to the method or manner in which this 
great reform was accompHshed. 

Often they recurred to the example and action of our 
own people, who had at first in all the states recognized 
and practised slavery, but had afterward gradually 
extinguished it, and had in the same manner, after the 
lapse of certain years, enfranchised these former slaves, 
so that in several of the states the free negro or his 
descendants voted at elections before the time of our 
Civil War. It was at that time, and may be even now, 
quite difficult to show what there was in the charac- 
ter or history of the African race that warranted so 
startling and sudden an accjuisition by them of the two 
magnificent gifts of personal liberty and the elective 
franchise. For although the late constitutional amend- 
ments in their behalf were the result of deliberate and 
fully considered legislation, yet in their effects they 
were instantaneous. On the first day of this new crea- 
tion four millions of slaves were set free ; on the second 
day, so to speak, hundreds of thousands of these freed- 
men were made full citizens and voters. 

This careless haste, this swift and hurried trans- 
formation, was even a gross injustice to the benefi- 
ciaries of the change, since it threw upon them the 
responsibilities of citizenship without any training or 
preparation therefor. It was a method of procedure 
as unnecessary as it was unprecedented, but it pre- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 247 

vailed. The protestations of the minority were un- 
heeded, the amendments were submitted and adopted. 

After these events came the era of transition, the 
passing from the old order of things to the new, — 
a time when the evils that caused this reformation 
were no longer feared or felt, but those caused by it be- 
came near and apparent. The whole course of political 
debate thereupon shifted to other themes — those of 
reconstruction and of federal legislation touching 
the conduct of elections in the several states. The 
party of the minority advocated the enfranchisement 
of the white constituencies of the South; they de- 
nounced the imperial reign of larceny during the 
dynasty of the Carpet-bagger ; they deplored the mis- 
chief, not yet all removed, of the ill-advised haste and 
precipitancy of this reform. They openly announced 
as a prudential rule in the actual conduct of public 
affairs, that there was such a thing as doing a righteous 
act in a wrong manner, and the people began to give 
credence more and more to these utterances. Al- 
though the two principal parties in the northern states 
mutually charged each other with lack of sincerity 
and good faith in their action, yet as bearing upon this 
accusation it is to be noted that the Republican party 
for rhany years enjoyed all the offices, honors, profits, 
and emoluments of public employment. 

A political organization which had conducted and 
administered the affairs of the government in a junc- 
ture of such moment as the Civil War might well pre- 
sume from motives of national gratitude upon a pro- 



248 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

longed and unbroken term of ascendancy; that their 
ascendancy became so soon infirm and decayed, could 
only have been caused by their own shortcomings and 
misrule. The profession of political faith made by a 
party in power, closely identified with pay and patron- 
age, must be well buttressed by its works and must 
have an exceedingly lofty vantage ground to brook 
its contrast with an opposition upheld by the unpaid 
and disinterested devotion of its followers. Very 
gradually after 1866 the voters of Indiana commenced 
to perceive and draw this contrast ; our adversaries 
were the losers. In 1870, in '72 and in '74, there were 
manifold evidences, here and elsewhere, of a reaction 
against the administration. The silence, partly en- 
forced and partly self-imposed during the war, touch- 
ing certain topics, was now broken ; these issues became 
really debatable; all men joined in the discussion, and 
this was not to the advantage of the party in power. 

It was in the course of these controversies and to- 
ward their close that Samuel J. Tilden made his mem- 
orable campaign for the presidency. The balloting 
and returns of the several electoral colleges made in 
Decemljer following the presidential election held in 
November, 1876, were questionable and undecisive. 
Both parties awaited in grave suspense the result. 
Against the advice of many of his friends and sup- 
porters, despite the vehement protest and remonstrance 
of others, with a magnanimity seldom found in the 
history of republics, ancient or modern, the great 
statesman of New York voluntarilv surrendered his 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 249 

right to a congressional count and canvass of the vote, 
submitted his claims to a tribunal composed of a ma- 
jority of his political opponents, and accepted in un- 
broken silence their adverse award. 

The whole country had been for months in a dis- 
turbed condition, within appreciable distance of civil 
discord and commotion, menaced by the perilous ques- 
tion of a disputed succession. By his calm controlling 
wisdom and deliberate self-renunciation, these por- 
tentous troubles were assuaged and averted. We have 
been taught by the Divine Master that they who do 
their duty as commanded are servants — yet only un- 
profitable servants. To the citizen and the patriot du- 
ties come by the way which are not enjoined by any 
law or commandment ; it is in the performance of these 
that real greatness of character is made manifest. Mr. 
Tilden's unconditional assent to the arbitrament of a 
question of such importance to his party and himself 
is a noble example for our future guidance ; the name 
and fame thereof have not ceased to this day. Few 
even of our presidents have rendered greater service 
to the Republic, or have earned such commemoration 
as is due to this lofty precedent. 

The result most satisfactory to the Democratic party 
of the state in the campaign of 1876 was the election of 
Mr. James D. Williams to the governorship. A resi- 
dent of the oldest county in the state. Mr. Williams 
was a genuine type of our earlier pioneers, the last of 
that stalwart race to be so highly honored by his fellow 
citizens. He was, and continued to be, a farmer, and 



250 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

had by his own unaided efforts accumulated a compe- 
tency, the fruit of his labor, thrift and prudence. For 
eleven sessions, twenty-two years, prior to his election 
to the chief magistracy, he had served either as a repre- 
sentative or senator from the county of Knox, and was 
thus closely identified with the course of our public af- 
fairs. His acquaintance with the history of current 
legislation in the state was precise and accurate. As to 
why certain words were used in the preamble of an act, 
why a proviso or exception was inserted, as to the rea- 
son for a subsequent repeal or amendment, his infor- 
mation surpassed that of most members of the bar. 
His executive talents had been exercised by prolonged 
service on the local boards of his county and town- 
ship. More than any man in public life he was the 
natural product, the home-growth of our own laws 
and institutions. He was thus qualified, in no or- 
dinary manner, for the discharge of the highest offi- 
cial duties. The honors which he won and wore were 
not unmerited. The long record of his public services 
was without spot or blemish. 



CHAPTER FIFTEEN 

REVISION OF THE STATUTES OF INDIANA, 1879 JAMES 

S. FRAZER COUNTY AND TOWNSHIP GOVERNMENT 

CAMPAIGN OF 1880 WILLIAM H. ENGLISH WIL- 
LIAM S. HOLMAN DISAPPEARANCE OF ANCIENT CUS- 
TOMS AND INSTITUTIONS EXIT OF THE CAMP-MEET- 
ING AND JOINT DISCUSSION 

On the sixteenth day of April, 1879, the supreme 
court of our state appointed three commissioners to 
make a revision of the statutes and to compile those 
then in force. The three persons so appointed were 
James S. Frazer, of Warsaw, John H. Stotsenburg, of 
New Albany, and David Turpie, of Indianapolis, who 
were also commissioned by the governor. 

James S. Frazer was chosen president of the com- 
mission. He had served as judge of the supreme 
court, and was a gentleman of great legal erudition, 
a jurist of broad culture and of established repute and 
character. Under the administration of President 
Grant he had acted at Washington as a member of 
the International Commission and stood high in the 
estimation of Hamilton Fish, the secretary of state at 
that time, who spoke in the warmest terms of com- 
mendation of Mr. Frazer, as one who united in his 

251 



252 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

character the best traits of the statesman and the dip- 
lomatist. The secretary sometimes expressed to 
others, in his courtly manner^ surprise that a man so 
skilful in affairs had been reared and educated in the 
West. 

Mr, Frazer was what might be called a charter mem- 
ber of the Republican party, one of its earliest adher- 
ents ; had been moreover a constant, active friend and 
trusted counselor of Oliver P. Morton's — one of the 
very few men in our state who was quite free and in- 
dependent in his intercourse with that formidable 
leader; one who could and did, upon occasion, with- 
stand and rebuke him to his face, and yet retain his con- 
fidence and friendship. 

Our labors required three years for their comple- 
tion. The revision made by us is usually called that 
of 1 88 1, because in that year it was adopted and ap- 
proved by the general assembly, but it was not finished 
and published until 1882, as will be seen by the date 
of the copyright which the revisors took for the use 
and benefit of the state. We remained in charge of, 
and in close touch with, the work up to the printing 
of the last page; for where the placing of a comma 
or semicolon may concern the interpretation of a pub- 
lic enat^ment, the most careful supervision of the proof 
is constantly required. 

The first official revision of the statutes of the state 
was adopted by the legislature of i823-'24, and was 
the work of a single revisor, Benjamin Parke, an emi- 
nent member of the bar of southern Indiana, He had 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 253 

been for several years, prior to 1808, a delegate in 
Congress; he afterward served as one of the territorial 
judges, and became, upon the admission of Indiana 
into the Union, the first United States district judge 
of the state. The revision of Mr. Parke has now be- 
come a somewhat rare volume. 

Of course any revision of the laws must in time be- 
come inadequate. It will contain many sections sub- 
sequently repealed or amended, others held invalid, and 
of necessity it must be lacking in all the legislation 
enacted after its adoption. It has sometimes been 
suggested that a continuous compilation of the laws 
as soon and as fast as they are published might super- 
sede revision. But a volume thus compiled would 
not at all show how the new legislation affected the old 
or how either had been affected by judicial decision. 
The duty and province of revision have in themselves 
a distinct importance. 

Although our statutory revisions have been made 
carefully and accurately, yet it is the safer practice in 
such work, in every instance, to examine the title and 
text of the original act. The last official revision had 
been made in 1852, thirty years before. We had lit- 
tle trouble in finding the volumes containing former 
revisions for use and reference, but had considerable 
difficulty in finding the full series of the state and terri- 
torial laws — the session-acts — though these had all 
been passed and published within a century, — so rapidly 
is this sort of history made and lost. We found them 
all at last, but not in the archives of the capitol, and not 



254 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

in any one library or collection ; several of them were 
in the hands of private citizens. Every assistance 
was given us by the judges and members of the bar 
throughout the state, and toward the close of our 
labors Mr. Albert G. Porter, then governor, who was 
a learned and capable lawyer, took an active and 
friendly interest in the revision and was indeed him- 
self well qualified to engage in such service. 

We were not merely compilers, we were authorized 
to suggest amendments to existing laws, and to draft 
forms of new enactments to be reported and submitted 
to the general assembly for their consideration. Fre- 
quently we acted upon this authority, notably in the 
case of the general drainage act of 1881, prepared 
and presented by our president. Mr. Frazer, which 
became a law, and has been the basis of all later legis- 
lation upon that subject. 

The members of our commission had been reading- 
some account of the system of plural voting and mi- 
nority representation, then being put into partial opera- 
tion in the neighboring state of Illinois and elsewhere. 
We thought it a favorable time to suggest some trial 
of the new system in Indiana, and particularly in the 
election of the board of county commissioners. Ac- 
cordingly we prepared some outlines of a law for that 
purpose, giving to each voter three votes for county 
commissioner and providing that he might divide them 
or cast them altogether for one candidate, so as to 
secure in every county one commissioner of the mi- 
nority political party. At first this method seemed 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 255 

to meet a somewhat favorable reception, by the com- 
mittee of the two houses upon revision, to which our 
suggestions were always referred ; but it was finally 
rejected and did not reach the legislature for their 
action. The causes of the rejection were not known ; 
they could hardly have been of a partizan nature. It 
is true that under such a law a Republican commis- 
sioner would have been elected in Allen County, but a 
Democratic member of the board would have been 
chosen in Wayne; the consequent political losses and 
gains in the state in this respect would have been nearly 
equal. 

My friend, Mr. Joseph E. McDonald, used to say 
in jesting mood, that the powers not granted to Con- 
gress by the federal constitution and those not given 
to the legislature by that of the state, might all be 
found vested in the Board of County Commissioners. 
An examination of the transactions of our ninety-two 
boards,, disclosed from time to time by the recorded 
decisions of the supreme court, especially with regard 
to the jurisdiction of subject matters, often assumed 
and not seldom denied, might afford some ground 
for this opinion. Such course of action has been 
mainly due to the fact that the members of this tri- 
bunal have not usually been of the class of persons 
known as learned in the law. The people seemed to 
determine from a very early time that the members 
of the county Board should be taken from their own 
number without other qualifications than those of in- 
tegrity and ordinary business capacity. They have 



256 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

also determined, although the functions of this office, 
as far a-s mental and physical labor are concerned, 
might be as susceptible of performance by one person 
as by three, that these functions shall be intrusted to 
that number or a majority thereof. And such is the 
tenacity with which they have held to this triple form 
of administration that no statesman of any party has 
ventured thus far to suggest a change. This is the 
more remarkable because, although the triple feature of 
the Board has the precedent of long established usage 
and law, it lacks the sanction of constitutional ordin- 
ance. The general assembly may at any time increase 
or diminish its membership, or lawfully abolish the 
county Board altogether, and institute a new tribunal 
for the discharge of its duties. 

County government in this country Is very old — 
much older than that of the state or the United States. 
County government is older than that of the colonies, 
having come from the home of the forefathers in Eng- 
land, where it had existed in some form at least since 
the days of King Alfred. Our supreme court has 
often decided that in contemplation of law the Board 
of County Commissioners is the county. In the olden 
time, under the feudal system, the count was the 
county. He held his court in the hall of his castle; 
there sat with him certain persons who were called 
assessors, but they were his own appointees and ser- 
vants. The count not only held but was the county 
court. This court had jurisdiction such as the county 
board has to-day, and thus the count had in his own 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 257 

person absolute control of local taxes and assessments, 
of roads, highways, bridges, ferries, drains, dikes and 
ditches — all the public business of the shire of this 
character. He was at the same time the military com- 
mander and lord paramount within the county ; all the 
people living in it were, under some form of tenure, 
his dependents. The consequence of such rule by such 
a ruler was that whenever a wealthy citizen or an in- 
ferior knight or liegeman incurred, for any reason, the 
count's displeasure, he was ordered to build a bridge 
or a league or two of pike road, or a drain or dike at 
his own charge, and the order was enforced. Upon 
others in like disfavor, the count's court levied a 
special fine, or doubled their assessment ; and whenever 
the count's treasury became depleted he replenished 
it by a levy at will upon the whole mass of his vassals. 
From these arbitrary rates and levies there was no 
relief or appeal. 

It was to procure the remission of some such harsh 
exaction that the noble Lady Godiva made her ride — 
almost as famous as that of Sheridan or Paul Revere. 

This system of county government lasted for many 
generations. A people accustomed to tyranny may 
acquire the habit of servitude. However, a period 
at length arrived when these evils became insufferable, 
and long before the first settlement of New England 
or Virginia the Crown and the Parliament were com- 
pelled to interfere to preserve peace in the country. 
The first thing they did was to abolish the count's 
court; they left him his title, that of count or earl. 



•258 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

but they stripped him of his former powers and juris- 
diction ; did not appoint any one man as his successor. 
These powers and duties since that time have been 
committed to boards or commissions, and this radical 
change in the system of county government, coming 
over the seas with the Pilgrim Fathers and the Cava- 
liers, has had a permanent place in the polity of our 
colonies and states. 

In the government of the county there has been at all 
times this unique feature — a plural executive. If we 
conceive the notion of electing three governors of In- 
diana, or three presidents of the Republic, we may ob- 
serve what a singular anomaly exists in our county 
government ; and we may also have some perception 
of that prolonged traditional hatred, due to the misrule 
of centuries, which has led the people in the administra- 
tion of these affairs never to trust the action of a sole 
executive. This inveterate and traditional jealousy of 
the people respecting the management of the local pub- 
lic business of the county has recently undergone a new 
development in the legislation of Indiana. Under the 
provisions of a late enactment, a county council has 
been appointed to supervise and control the action of 
the commissioners in the matter of money appropria- 
tions. This may be a valuable improvement, yet the 
choice of members of the Board by the method of plural 
voting might also be an additional and salutary check 
upon the prerogative of our county rulers, if the pres- 
ent system is to be continued. 

In respect to township government we received no 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 259 

suggestion of amendments and made none. Of the 
four species of our local or domestic government that 
of the township is the most settled and stable in its 
character ; that of the county is next to it in this par- 
ticular; those of the town and city seem yet to be in 
a somewhat plastic and formative condition. The 
constitution of 1850, following that of 181 6, took 
little notice of the government of the township. It 
is recognized in our present constitution, but merely 
with the provision that its officers shall be elected or 
appointed in such manner as the law may direct. Thus 
there is no guaranty of even the elementary form of 
free government in the township. 

The colonies before the Revolution, and many of the 
states for years afterward, held no elections for town- 
ship or even county officers. Officers of the county, 
sheriffs, magistrates, and others, were appointed by 
the governor or the legislature; the county Board of 
Justices appointed the township officers. This was 
local government in a sense, but not local self-govern- 
ment. It required some lapse of time and some con- 
tinuous agitation to strip the central authority at the 
state capital of this extensive system of power and 
patronage. That there should ever be a recurrence 
to these ancient methods may be deemed quite im- 
probable. Yet at this day the election of our town- 
ship officers depends wholly on statute. The legisla- 
ture might legally enact that the trustees should all 
be appointed by the governor or by the county clerk, 
that they should hold office during life or for ten 



26o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

years. Notwithstanding the confidence hitherto re- 
posed in our lawmakers it might be preferable to adopt 
a constitutional amendment prescribing that the prin- 
cipal officer of the township shall be elected by the 
people and fixing the length of his term. This would 
add permanency and stability to a system well worthy 
of these. 

Prior to the revision of 1852, which dates the com- 
mencement of the present method of township gov- 
ernment, the chief officer of the township was the in- 
spector of elections. The duties now devolving upon 
the trustee were performed by others. 

I once heard Governor Wright, in addressing one of 
the early agricultural meetings, say in his earnest, 
startling manner : "Gentlemen, when you have an 
honest, bright, active man in your neighborhood, do 
not send him to Congress or to the legislature; make 
him your township trustee; keep your best talents for 
home use." He did not regard our local government 
as of small moment. 

Actual local self-government is one of the chief 
bulwarks of civil liberty — of that liberty which, like 
charity, begins at home, and when lost at home is sel- 
dom found elsewhere. 

After the defeat of the Democratic party in 1880, 
there was an unusual amount of criticism among our 
own people touching the conduct and management of 
the campaign. 

Mr. William H. English, eminent before this time 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 261 

for distinguished service in high pubHc employments, 
had been our candidate for vice-president, and had at 
the same time acted as chairman of the state central 
committee in the canvass just closed. He was a gen- 
tleman of much experience, of ripe judgment and dis- 
cretion, of reticence when needed, and yet of a man- 
ner quite felicitous as a speaker, when he chose to 
engage in that exercise. He was a man of great wealth, 
of worth yet greater. His work in literature, the Con- 
quest of the Northzvest, has already taken a first place 
among western classics. Mr. Hendricks, Mr. Mc- 
Donald, and a large corps of our ablest speakers, had 
taken part in the contest. We had made, a losing race ; 
the murmurs of our party friends and associates were 
still heard and repeated. 

Members of a party in success are prone to over- 
estimate the merits of leadership ; in adversity, to de- 
cry and undervalue them, although these merits are 
quite as often shown in the one case as the other. 

When, in the way of reflection, we calmly consider, 
from a partizan standpoint, the geographical position 
of Indiana, its boundaries on three sides, nearly al- 
ways hostile to Democratic success ; that there has been 
little immigration from the South for the last forty 
years, save that which crosses the Ohio River from 
Kentucky, usually of an adverse political complexion; 
that within the same period there has been a constantly 
increasing migration from Republican communities of 
the eastern and northern states — it may be matter of 



262 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

some surprise that we have so often been successful 
in Indiana rather than that we have been sometimes 
defeated. 

In examining the annals of the last half-century 
touching high political preferments, it will be seen that 
the Democratic party has had more than an equal pro- 
portion of such positions. My late colleague, Mr. 
Daniel W. Voorhees, served nearly twenty years in the 
Senate. Oliver P. Morton served a long term as gov- 
ernor; but Joseph A. Wright, a Democrat, served as 
governor yet longer. In the congressional delegation 
of the house, not to mention others, we have had Hol- 
man, Niblack, and Kerr, three men not surpassed either 
in length of service or honors therein attained. 

Mr. William S. Holman, like English, Niblack and 
Gresham, statesmen of national reputation, was a 
native of Indiana. He was twenty times a candidate 
for Congress, twice beaten for nomination, four times 
beaten for election, and sixteen times nominated and 
elected. At the time of his death he was in the thirty- 
first year of his service. Without and beyond ques- 
tion it must be taken for granted, in a state so closely 
contested as ours, that length of service is a crucial 
test and proof of ability and integrity in a public 
servant thus honored. It must also be recollected 
that Mr. Holman's constituencies were frequently 
changed by adverse partizan legislation; that there 
was no change in his own party affiliations; that as 
a Democrat he began and as such finished his public 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 263 

life. His was, moreover, as active, thorough, and avail- 
ing service in conference, in committee work, and in 
the most exciting debates of his time. For him there 
is no parallel. There is, or was, a position in the 
English Established Church, the incumbent of which 
was called the Perpetual Curate. Mr. Holman might 
deservedly be called, for Indiana, the Perpetual Con- 
gressman. 

It is thus shown by the record that the charge of 
lack of management or of incapacity in the Democratic 
canvass of our state is groundless. There have been 
many and long intervals of opposition rule; but such 
occurrences need not in the least degree affect one who 
believes in the principles of the Democratic cause. 
There is no power in time or numbers to transform 
error into truth. A decent respect for the opinion of 
an adverse majority may be entertained, but to make 
this a rule of action is a thing quite different. 

To the observer of changes in the customs and man- 
ners of the people, the campaign of 1880 is chiefly 
memorable as the last in which the opposing candidates 
for governor were engaged in a regular series of joint 
discussions. By this time the railroads in our state 
had greatly multiplied, traversing the country in all 
directions, and these joint meetings of Mr. Porter 
and Mr. Landers were ordinarily held at some rail- 
road center. Although I bore a full part in the can- 
vass of '80, yet I found time to attend one or two of 
these joint appointments, and sympathized very much 



264 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

both with the speakers and their hearers. They were 
embarrassed from day to day by these methods of 
travel. 

Whoever has had the duty assigned him of address- 
ing, for any purpose, a large audience assembled by 
rail, in the open air, within sight and sound of passing 
trains, has learned the difficulty of such a task. The 
speaker, as we will suppose, has swung loose from his 
exordium and is about to enter upon the main discus- 
sion of his theme, when the locomotive whistle is heard, 
followed by the rumbling noise of the approaching 
cars. The whole audience turns about to look at the 
train. When the cars have stopped or disappeared 
in the distance, the audience turn their faces and at- 
tention toward the speaker's stand. They have been 
engaged long enough elsewhere to forget all that he 
has said, and take but an indifferent interest in what 
he may further have to tell them. All are in the atti- 
tude of waiting — of expectation, not as to the speech, 
but concerning the next coming train. It is a sorry 
attitude for a public canvasser, — the least suitable for 
the consideration of any subject, secular or sacred. 

At last the train arrives, it is car-time for one whole 
section of the crowd in attendance; they leave in a 
body. Then follows a second train-call and another 
departure. A third portion of the audience yet re- 
mains, as their cars have not yet come; out of sheer ne- 
cessity they wait, sit with sad civility to hear the speak- 
er's peroration, and hurriedly leave the ground at the 
first signal for a stop. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 265 

It is quite evident that a meeting held for hearing 
a well reasoned and connected argument, particularly 
a joint discussion, intended to be weighed and pon- 
dered in all its parts, is under these conditions useless 
and unprofitable. All political parties have been im- 
pelled to abandon such assemblies, as nearly all our 
churches have abandoned the ancient custom of as- 
sembling in large numbers in the open air for public 
worship. It is true there yet exists among us an in- 
stitution called the camp-meeting, whose campers live 
in adjacent cottages and attend services in an audi- 
torium, roofed, floored and seated like the church at 
home. The good brother from the back settlement 
with his team, his covered wagon and his coffee-fire, 
would be somewhat at a loss to find a place under the 
new dispensation. It is said these modern methods 
are much more comfortable. The old-fashioned camp- 
meeting was not devoid of comfort, or of happiness, 
or of outspoken joy. It is not intended to affirm that 
the new manner of holding either religious or politi- 
cal mass-meetings is inferior to the old, but plainly to 
mark the differences between them and to trace the 
causes which have induced these changes of method. 

When people now go in large numbers a journey of 
miles, to hold a meeting for any purpose in the open 
air, they go by rail, without any further object, for the 
most part, than to enjoy the trip. The spectacular part 
of such a program far excels in attraction that of the 
theater or opera, since the whole audience take part 
in it — the free ride or excursion dominates all other 



266 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TikES 

considerations. Without any suggestion that the 
usages of the present are merely causeless innovations, 
without any disparagement of the future, it is easily 
apprehended that the system of steam transportation 
is directly responsible for the disappearance of two of 
our most ancient institutions — the camp-meeting and 
the joint discussion. 

This new system of travel is called preeminently the 
time-saver. Yet we have not the time to hold the three- 
days' or ten days' mass-meetings of our forefathers for 
any purpose as they held them; we have in some way 
surrendered the power which they had of controlling 
the period of the attendance or adjournment of such 
popular assemblies ; steam, that errant daughter of the 
flood and flame, has encroached upon this. Thus one 
might curiously inquire, What has become of the time 
thus saved ? not without the hope that the ages yet to be 
may better utilize this vast economy of time ; that labor 
and leisure may both be more justly apportioned, add- 
ing ever greater stores to the sum of human happiness. 



CHAPTER SIXTEEN 

FOURTH OF JULY, 1881 ASSASSINATION OF PRESI- 
DENT GARFIELD INDEPENDENCE DAY AT KENTLAND 

THE DECLARATION AND ORDINANCE OF 1 787 

ARTICLES OF COMPACT THE CENTENNIAL OF I916 

RURAL AND CITY GOVERNMENT INTERNAL 

GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE CAM- 
PAIGN OF 1886 THE OFF YEAR SENATORIAL ELEC- 
TION OF 1887 THE DEPENDENT PENSION BILL 

For thirty years I made addresses at different places 
in our state on the Fourth of July. These celebrations 
were always enjoyable, and it is somewhat singular 
that their observance is not more general. This anni- 
versary is celebrated by Americans abroad, in what- 
ever part of the world they may be sojourning, al- 
though its commemoration has in a partial degree 
ceased at home. 

I had been invited some weeks in advance to ad- 
dress the people at Kentland on the Fourth of July, 
1 88 1. President Garfield, it will be remembered, was 
shot by an assassin at Washington just two days be- 
fore. The first despatches, however, in relation to this 
tragic occurrence, stated that, although the president 
was seriously wounded, he was not fatally injured and 

267 



268 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

that he would recover. I took the train at IndianapoHs 
for Kentland on the morning of the third, but the news 
reached us on the way that the president had suffered 
a relapse; later, that he was growing worse, was rap- 
idly sinking ; and by the time of our arrival at the place, 
that he was dying. Great excitement prevailed among 
the people of the town and surroimding country. The 
gentlemen in charge of the arrangements for the cele- 
bration were in a conditon of grave embarrassment. 
Upon the afternoon of the third they had gone so far 
as to take down some of the usual decorations on the 
main stand, and were preparing to replace them with 
the sable emblems of mourning. During the night of 
the third there came a contradiction of these unfavor- 
able reports ; on the morning of the Fourth of July the 
despatches were reassuring, and at noon, just before 
the exercises began, the intelligence was all of the most 
hopeful and cheerful character. 

When the hour came for the delivery of the ad- 
dress, I abandoned the usual course of historic and 
discursive presentation of the theme proper to the day, 
and took as a text for my remarks the maxim that the 
president never dies. At the same time a review was 
made of the character and public career of President 
Garfield ; of the peril which now threatened him, and 
of the two alternatives : that of his recovery, so fer- 
vently wished and devoutly prayed for, and that of his 
death, afterward so widely and sincerely lamented. 

There was a very large number in attendance, at- 
tracted by, the rapidly changing and somewhat con- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 269 

fused reports relating to the tragedy at Washington. 
When, during the exercises, a despatch was received 
touching the condition of the wounded sufferer at the 
White House, the order of the day was interrupted, 
and the whole audience rose and stood in silence while 
it was read from the stand. The meeting, in view of 
the trying circumstances under which it was held, 
passed off well ; people dispersed to their several homes 
full of hope for the restoration of the president's 
health. 

The maxim above cited, concerning the death of the 
president, in its application to our form of republic, is 
a reality. Elsewhere in the world there have often oc- 
curred civil wars, bloody and disastrous, concerning 
the succession to the supreme authority upon the death 
of the chief ruler, waged by hostile rival claimants 
upon some disputed question of kinship or inherit- 
ance. In the United States the constitution first, and 
then the law, upon the death of the chief executive, 
designates in the clearest terms his successor ; and this 
is done to the extent of several persons who may suc- 
cessively become vested with the powers and duties of 
the presidency ; so that no matter how sudden or unex- 
pected may be the demise of the person acting as presi- 
dent, there can be no vacancy. And since our legisla- 
tion upon this subject justly designates, in every in- 
stance, a person as successor who is officially known to 
be a member of the same political party as the president 
last elected, there is no change even in the policy or 
measures of the administration until the people, at an 



2/0 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ensiling presidential election, shall indicate a desire for 
such change. 

Instances have occurred once or twice in our history 
when a change of policy has taken place under such 
circumstances, but these were not due simply to the in- 
cident of the demise of the former president, but to 
some modification of conduct or opinion in the new in- 
cumbent. 

In the earlier celebrations of our national anniver- 
sary it was the custom sometimes, immediately after 
the reading of the Declaration of Independence, to 
read also that part of the ordinance of 1787, known as 
the Articles of Compact. These articles are brief, 
but are very closely connected with the fortunes of our 
people as a state, and their perusal was regarded as 
quite appropriate to the occasion. 

The ordinance of 1787 was the first law of the 
United States under which our people lived. Besides 
the usual regulations pertinent to the conduct of civil 
government, it contained in the Articles of Compact, 
declared in terms to be forever unalterable, certain pro- 
visions unknown before in the legislation of that age 
and of far-reaching consequence. 

One of these was the conservancy for public use of 
all navigable streams and their portages, declaring 
them to be common highways for ever. Another was 
the forbidding of involuntary servitude except for 
crime. This was the first prohibition of slavery made 
by the American Congress, as it was the first made by 
any national legislative assembly in the world. For 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2"/ 1 

this enactment was of the eighteenth, not of the nine- . 
teenth, century, and was made before any European 
government had taken action in behalf of this reform. 
It is a proof of the inadequacy of mere legislation that, 
notwithstanding this inhibition, African slavery ex- 
isted in southern Indiana during the whole period of 
the territorial government, and in a few instances, 
even under our first years of statehood, until the su- 
preme court expressly decided that, by the terms of the 
ordinance, slaves could not here be held to service. 
Then the institution disappeared. Its practice in the 
primitive times of early migration and settlement, when 
the slave accompanied his master in his removal hither 
from the older states, was doubtless connived at by 
those in authority, although the majority of our peo- 
ple had often and earnestly expressed their adherence 
to the prohibitory law of Congress upon this subject. 

Another section in these Articles of Compact pro- 
vides in imperative language for the perpetual main- 
tenance of schools and the means of education. Con- 
gress and the state have both kept faith with the 
terms of this covenant, not only by laws favorable to 
its fulfilment, but by the most liberal and generous do- 
natives and endowments for the support of common 
schools. What might have been regarded in this an- 
cient article of compact as a mere expression of ideal 
sentiment, humane and kindly, far in advance of the 
time of its enactment, has become with us a very prac- 
tical reality, and has resulted in the accumulation of a 
fund sacredly devoted to the education of the young, 



272 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

exceeding in value the wealthiest university founda- 
tions. 

In the approaching- centennial of Indiana, to be cel- 
ebrated in 19 1 6, it would not be amiss, rather it would 
be altogether fitting and appropriate, to read as a part 
of the ceremonial the act providing for the admission of 
the state into the Union, and with it the Articles of 
Compact in the ordinance of 1787. These two cele- 
brated state papers are nearly akin. The admissory 
act refers in explicit terms to the ordinance, and en- 
joins that the constitution of the new state shall con- 
form to its recjuirements. Such a public use of these 
papers would show clearly what engagements our 
fathers entered into when they became inhabitants of 
the land ; and we might learn in this manner how many 
of these covenants we have kept, and which of them we 
have forgotten or disregarded. 

The spirit of modern improvement seems to cavil at 
the provisions concerning navigable rivers, and is dis- 
posed to treat these streams as private property. The 
title and ownership of the easement in these waters are 
by the terms of the compact vested in the public, that 
is, in the people, for one purpose — their use as public 
highways for ever. This title is inalienable and per- 
petual. No legislation at Indianapolis or Washing- 
ton can defeat it, sell or transfer it, or rightfully au- 
thorize disturbance of or interference with its declared 
use and purpose. A constitutional renunciation of 
this grant by the people might work its defeasance. 
We may regret its loss, never its preservation. That 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 273 

kind of so-called modern progress founded upon the 
extinction of the rights of the people in any of their 
franchises, made under whatever pretext, ends always 
in mischiefs unforeseen and often irreparable. 

That part of the ordinance touching the surrender 
of fugitive slaves has now become inoperative ; even 
during the recognized existence of slavery it was sel- 
dom complied with. The portion of the ordinance re- 
lating to our intercourse with the Indian tribes, drafted 
with much care and circumspection, in the letter and 
spirit of the most benign regard for their rights and 
interests, has been too often ruthlessly violated. 

The Indians were mighty hunters, but were them- 
selves the hunted game of the border for many years. 
Possessed of lands and other property, whereof they 
knew neither the use nor the value, and incessantly pur- 
sued by the wily craft of the white trader, very few of 
them stood at bay or escaped his enticements. The 
genius of our civilization may not repent, but once in 
a hundred years it may perhaps afford to cast a glance 
in retrospect, not always in approval, at the result of 
its own action. 

Our remote posterity, in recurring to the first cen- 
tury of our history as a district territory and state, will 
not fail to observe that the legislation and institutions 
of that period are clearly marked and deeply impressed 
by the discriminations made between the several por- 
tions of the original compact — as much by those we 
evaded as by those we observed. 

The region of the country now called Indiana, in 



274 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the eighteenth century, with its hardy backwoodsmen 
and hunters, its groups of rugged boatmen who nav- 
igated the creeks and rivers, and its shrewd trading 
adventurers, deaHng both with whites and Indians in 
the sparsely scattered villages and hamlets, differed 
very much from the present state. Nor does this bear 
much resemblance to a still later period, when Gover- 
nor Harrison laid out and platted the town of Cory- 
don, in 1808, three years before the battle of Tippe- 
canoe; when he used to travel from his barn and mill 
on Blue River, by a bridle-path blazed through the 
woods, to our ancient capital, the Old Post on the 
Wabash at Vincennes ; or when Judge Parke made the 
journey, to hold his first court, through a country 
where the tracks of the Indian moccasin had yet 
scarcely disappeared. 

Still among all the changes and vicissitudes of more 
than a century the principal features of our internal 
policy are directly traceable to the ordinance. The 
contemporaries of Governors Harrison and Posey, like 
those of their successors, Jennings and the elder Hen- 
dricks, kept the weightier matters of the fundamental 
law of Congress in lively remembrance, though in 
other things they may have been somewhat remiss. 
Preoccupied by questions and interests of pressing im- 
portance, our ancient lawgivers took no measures to 
preserve for their use the fish, the game, or the forest. 
Those, however, who would now chide them for this 
neglect might as well upbraid them for not having held 
a city flower festival in the haw-patch or pigeon-roost 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 275 

of a hundred years ago. As was long since observed 
by that prince of peasants, Sancho Panza, some people 
are always wanting better bread than can be made 
from wheat: The same class of persons to-day, with 
eyes intently fixed upon the joints in the pavements 
and the street crossings, walk all the way around the 
Circle without seeing the Monument. 

The framers of the ordinance of 1787 seem to have 
contemplated, and in good faith provided for, a peace- 
able and somewhat permanent joint occupancy of the 
territory by the white settlers and the aboriginal tribes 
as friends and neighbors. The multitudinous advent 
of land-seekers and home-makers frustrated this prim- 
itive policy; its enforcement, even its existence, be- 
came impossible. To the same cause is doubtless due 
our early non-observance of some other precepts of 
this ancient code — precepts which we now look upon 
with surprise, even perhaps with aversion. 

We are in some respects wiser than our fathers, as 
our descendants may be wiser than ourselves ; yet this 
will not justify our posterity in the attempt to dispar- 
age the wisdom of to-day, or that of yesterday, how- 
ever far removed. The ordinance of July thirteenth, 
1787, viewed with reference to the period of its enact- 
ment, was a measure of statesmanship, wise, timely 
and beneficent. 

This recurrence to the past is in full accord with a 
sentiment always existing among us, at some times 
more manifest than at others. The character of the 
people of Indiana has been from the beginning con- 



S76 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

servative, especially marked by the spirit of genuine 
autonomy and innate independence. Their advance- 
ment has been during the last century notable; they 
have never been opposed to progress, but have more 
than once repelled certain methods of progress, glitter- 
ing and of high promise, which have been elsewhere 
suddenly adopted and as suddenly abandoned. They 
have adhered to our primitive methods, enhanced and 
self-developed, in every department of industry, of 
public legislation, of common schools and of collegiate 
instruction. 

Both of our state constitutions, that of 181 6 and 
1850, are closely patterned, in the bill of rights and 
other fundamental provisions, upon the ordinance of 
1787. Even in such an important matter of detail as 
the law of descent and inheritance, our statutes to-day 
follow the letter of the ordinance; there have been 
some additions and amendments, but at no time has 
there been any departure therefrom; the main princi- 
ples of the early legislation upon this subject are un- 
changed. 

This conservatism is peculiarly to be noted in our 
action touching certain subjects upon which public 
opinion seems to be now almost unanimous. Our 
state never enacted any measures in the form of law 
against the Fugitive Slave Act. We forbade by con- 
stitutional ordinance the migration and settlement here 
of free persons of color ; we deprived the negro of the 
ballot, and for a long period excluded his testimony as 
a witness. Other states very near, even some, of those, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2/7 

adjoining us, adopted, as to these things, a very differ- 
ent poHcy ; but this at the time had no effect upon our 
course. Our poHcy remained the same until the nation 
at large, by the adoption of amendments to the federal 
constitution, made a change necessary and inevitable. 

Our universities and colleges, those unfailing indi- 
cations of local characteristics, are thoroughly identi- 
fied with the places, the sites within our borders, 
where they were founded. In several instances they 
are closely connected in their origin with the old 
county seminary, and succeeded to the use of its 
buildings and endowment. They are local centers, 
well distributed, of advanced learning, and in their 
several spheres are wholly autonomous, self-depend- 
ent. They have never been congested into one mass, 
or centralized under a single rule or influence; and 
therein are choice types of the people who have given 
them their patronage and support. Our people 
readily recognize the truth of the adage, In union there 
is strength ; but they apply it only to the physical force 
or political power of numbers. In the thrift and de- 
velopment of the intellectual faculties of mankind, 
unity or uniformity is often subversive of the object it 
would seek to promote. 

There is no state as large as ours that has been so 
slightly affected by the disturbing forces of external 
or secondary agencies. This has been owing to the 
preponderance of the agricultural interests, which, 
from the beginning, have engaged the attention of the 
largest number of our population, and have been in 



2/8 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

no way neutralized or overshadowed by the influx of 
foreign migration, or by the existence of very populous 
cities within our boundaries. 

Notwithstanding the manifold increase of com- 
merce, manufactures and mining, the state at large 
may yet properly be described as a farm or plantation, 
occupied by many thousands of independent proprie- 
tors employed in the tillage of the soil. 

The farmer is everywhere much concerned about 
the tract of land he lives on, not only as being his 
property, but as being the home of himself and his 
family. He is impelled to think often and seriously 
about the condition of the schools, roads, bridges and 
ditches, and of the railway stations and crossings in 
his vicinity. His interest in these things is not wholly 
selfish ; he is not at all devoid of public spirit. He is 
much more concerned about the welfare of his neigh- 
borhood and the affairs of his township, with its 
numerous subdivisions, than the resident of a city 
is usually found to be in the affairs of his ward. He 
may entertain a reasonable amount of admiration for 
his senator or congressman, but he thinks a great 
deal more about the action of the township trustee, 
the road supervisor, the school-teacher and his assist- 
ants, than that of other officials. His neighbors and 
himself control the election of the ruling officers in 
the township government, and demand of them a strict 
and faithful administration of the law; and unless 
the demand be complied with, the incumbent loses 
his official position. The effect is manifest in the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2/9 

superior management of the rural township govern- 
ment. The agricultural element in the administration 
of its local affairs may not do all things in the best 
manner, but it does many more things in a better man- 
ner than the ordinary municipality. The reason of 
this is to be found, not so much in the conduct of the 
rulers as of the ruled. 

Of course it may be said that there are great diffi- 
culties peculiar to city government, yet the govern- 
ment of the rural township is not without difficulties; 
it touches in its course many of the conveniences and 
necessities of civilized life. The real difference 
seems to be that the constituents of the rural govern- 
ment have, or at least have shown, more capacity in 
dealing with the evils of maladministration than those 
of the city. The connection with and relation to the 
local authorities of a farming community is more 
practical, immediate and direct ; they take the time and 
trouble to trace the causes of official delinquency to 
its source and apply the remedy — conditions which 
might be, and yet are not often found, in a city popu- 
lation. 

Let a comparison be made between the management 
of public affairs in one of our old and long-established 
townships in any part of the state, for thirty years, 
and the management of a city government for a like 
period. It will be shown that there has been more 
of prudence, more of economy in expenditure, more 
scrupulous attention to details, less of capricious 
change and experiment, a better adaptation of means to 



28o SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ends, and a more satisfactory improvement in its own 
methods of action, in the rural government than in 
that of the city. Of course there is a difference in 
the law applicable to the two communities, but the 
greater difference is in the genius or spirit of its ad- 
ministration. Now it is this spirit of the law, best 
shown in the action of our very numerous township 
governments — this spirit averse to change for the 
mere sake of change — cautious concerning projected 
amendment, very free of inquiry but somewhat slow 
in determination ; constant in the rejection of mere 
empiricism ; disregarding personal or special inter- 
ests ; studious only of the general welfare and the pub- 
lic good, that has hitherto been carried by our great 
rural constituencies into all the legislation of the com- 
monwealth, and has been deeply stamped into the char- 
acter of our civil and social conditions. 

Indiana may not be the first of the states in wealth, 
population or territorial area, but it is second to none 
in the tenacious observance of its conservative auton- 
omy. Concerning our future fortunes as relating to 
the maintenance of this polity, faith and hope unite 
in the best auguries. In attaining the position of a 
free, prosperous and enlightened state the question is 
not so much whether the movement be fast or slow, 
as whether it be made in the right manner and direc- 
tion. 

Both as an emblem and lesson, the most highly 
cultured Grecians of antiquity, in the games at their 
national festivals, always introduced the torch race. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 281 

The winner in this race was not he who first reached 
the goal, but he who first reached it carrying with him 
over the darkened course his torch yet burning and 
alight. This race, as has been said of it, was not to the 
swift, but to the wise. 

The canvass of 1886 took place in what is known 
in our partizan vernacular as an off-year. It is the 
year in which a general election is held four months 
prior to the half-way limit of the presidential term; 
a full ticket is placed in the field except for electors. 
It was formerly the custom to publish the ticket in full 
and allow it to stand in column until the close of the 
campaign. In the year when no presidential election 
was pending the names of the electors were off the 
slate for nomination — what was more they were off 
the ticket, and off the file of the printer's galley. 

The time when the off-space was thus made, by the 
omission of the names of presidential electors, became 
gradually identified as the off-year. I have heard 
Mr. John D. Defrees of the Journal and Mr. William 
J. Brown of the Sentinel both speak of this expression 
and its origin. It was in quite common use before 
its appearance in print; the newspapers have since 
given it a wider acceptance and circulation. As a 
vacancy occurring during the presidential term is al- 
ways filled by succession, not by election, the off-year, 
as a distinct political epoch, must be as permanent and 
enduring as the present form of government. It is 
a season not of absolute indifference, though of in- 
terest much abated as compared with that of a presi- 



262 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

dential contest. The off-year is a sort of fallow in 
the political field, where plants unknown, and unsown 
save in secret, flourish and abound. It is a time of 
clearing-house settlement, so to speak, when classes 
of men within the same party take the opportunity 
to reckon with their adversaries the account of old 
scores and grudges till then suppressed. The reins 
of partizan discipline are relaxed, and voters act with a 
measurable degree of independence. Everything may 
be expected from men and from events, except to 
foreknow election results in the off-year. 

The legislature chosen in 1886 met in January, 
1887; the duty devolved upon it of electing a United 
States senator, and on the first roll-call of its mem- 
l)ers it was Democratic by a majority of one on joint 
ballot. 

The Republican candidate for the Senate was ]\Ir. 
Benjamin Harrison; he was then the sitting member, 
and had made a very able canvass for reelection, 
somewhat aided by those features of contingency be- 
fore noted as peculiar to the off-year. The Demo- 
cratic candidate for senator was not known for some 
time. Friends of Mr. Joseph E. McDonald presented 
his name as a candidate for nomination, and he had 
many earnest and cordial supporters. When that 
gentleman withdrew voluntarily from the contest, my 
own name began to be spoken of in that connection. 
I was at this time holding the ofiice of United States 
district attorney — fully engaged in the business of the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 283 

government and in private practice in the different 
courts. Tliere seemed to be a general movement to- 
ward my selection as a candidate for the Senate. 

Mr. Isaac P. Gray was then governor. He was a 
gentleman having a very clear vision of current events 
and the actors therein, prompt and decisive in action 
as he was in counsel wise and considerate. The mood 
and tense of the grammar of his life were those of the 
imperative present ; with these he had gone far. In 
his subsequent service as minister of the United States 
to Mexico he made a distinctly favorable impression 
upon the chief officials of that government, and largely 
promoted the amicable intercourse and business rela- 
tions between the people of the two republics. 

When the Democratic caucus met I was nominated 
for senator and accepted the position, one of difficulty 
and embarrassment. 

The house in the legislature was Republican, and 
commenced the senatorial campaign by unseating a 
Democratic member and placing a Republican con- 
testant in his stead. The senate, which was Demo- 
cratic, then unseated a Republican and gave the seat 
to a Democrat. This mode of procedure was repeated 
until the Republicans in the senate protested that it 
must cease. It did cease; it had not changed the po- 
litical character of the general assembly in either 
house. 

There were at this time four members of the house 
who had attended neither caucus, and who had selected 



284 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

and voted for an independent candidate for senator. 
As long as they continued in this course there could 
be no choice made of a United States senator. 

The presidency of the state senate also presented a 
question which both parties regarded as of the first 
importance. General Manson, who had been elected 
lieutenant-governor in 1884, had afterward accepted 
a federal appointment as collector of internal revenue 
in his district, and thus vacated the state office to 
which he had been chosen. Both parties, by way of 
precaution, in the election of 1886, had made nomina- 
tions to fill this vacancy, and the Republican candidate 
had received a majority of the votes cast. The Demo- 
cratic senate refused to recognize the gentleman who 
had been thus elected to that position, claiming that 
the constitution of the state had made full provision 
by its own terms for the succession in such vacancy. 
Acting under that provision, they had chosen Mr, 
Alonzo G. Smith, one of their own members, presi- 
dent pro tempore, as their presiding officer, and they 
refused to recognize any other. 

The provisions of our state constitution in relation 
to vacancies in the offices of governor and lieutenant- 
governor are closely paralleled with those of the fed- 
eral constitution concerning vacancies in the offices 
of president and vice-president. Certainly no party 
in this country has ever claimed that in the case of a 
vacancy occurring in the vice-presidency, from any 
cause, an election must be held to choose his successor 
— all have conceded that, in such case, the president 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 285 

pro tempore, elected by the senate, lawfully succeeds 
to the office and duty of the vice-president. Such was 
our position and in part the reasons in support of it. 
Two suits were brought to determine this question, 
in one of which Mr. Benjamin Harrison and myself 
appeared as counsel and made full arguments upon 
opposing sides; the supreme court decided both cases 
without considering or determining the main question 
in either. Under similar or like circumstances it may 
recur again. An unsettled contingency in reference 
to the tenure of the second office in the state is a con- 
dition not desirable. 

The general assembly, in the meantime, proceeded 
to vote day after day in joint convention for United 
States senator, with the result of no election; it was 
the longest contest of that kind ever occurring in our 
state. Upon the sixteenth ballot cast on the second 
day of February, 1887, the president pro tempore of 
the senate, who was the presiding officer of the joint 
convention, declared my election to the United States 
Senate. The speaker of the house announced from 
the same stand that there had been no election. The 
joint convention adjourned amidst great commotion 
and clamorous disorder. The journals, however, of 
both houses appeared next morning giving a very full 
record of the proceedings, showing that every mem- 
ber of the assembly had attended and voted, and of 
this number seventy-six votes had been cast for 
David Turpie; seventy- four for Benjamin Harrison. 
Protests and remonstrances against the validity of this 



286 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

election were signed and forwarded to the Senate at 
Washing-ton, together with numerous papers relating 
to the contested seats in both houses of the legislature. 
The opposition press and politicians of the state con- 
tinued to deny and denounce the legality of the elec- 
tion. 

On the fourth day of March, 1887, I resigned the 
office of district attorney of the United States, as the 
most direct way of informing both friends and oppo- 
nents that I had the fullest confidence in the lawfulness 
of the election. 

The Congress to which I had been chosen did not 
meet until December. Several months were thus 
given to close up unfinished business at the bar and to 
prepare briefs and arguments in support of my right 
to a seat in the Senate. I went to Washington at the 
proper time, was sworn in and seated without objec- 
tion ; all the papers on both sides of the case were re- 
ferred to the committee upon privileges and elections 
for examination and report. The committee did not 
report for several months afterward; they made a 
very complete examination of the facts and the law 
in the case and unanimously decided that I was legally 
entitled to the seat. This report was approved by 
the Senate without a division; the majority of the 
committee, as well as that of the Senate, were Repub- 
licans. The decision and judgment of the Senate in 
this case, since often quoted and followed, was to the 
effect that the Senate of the United States will neither 
consider nor adjudicate touching the title of an in- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 287 

dividual member to his seat in a state legislature. 
The Senate will hear and decide a question of two 
bodies both claiming to be the legislature, which of 
the two is the lawful assembly; it will decide between 
two bodies, both claiming to be the senate or the house 
of a state legislature, which is the lawful house or 
senate; but with respect to the election and qualifica- 
tions of any particular member the judgment of the 
house to which he belongs in the legislature is, under 
the constitution of the state, final and exclusive. 

A departure from this ruling would be an invasion 
of the sovereignty of the state and of the jurisdiction 
of its legislature in its own sphere, and would have 
the direct tendency to make the Senate itself an elec- 
toral body for the choice of its own members. This 
sort of self-elected legislative chambers is very an- 
cient, and their history is rife with danger and disaster 
to the countries in which they have had an existence. 
The possibility that the rule in the Turpie case may, 
under the exigency of party contests, at some time be 
abandoned, is one of the reasons among many others 
for a change in the method of electing United States 
senators. If these officers were elected by a direct 
vote of the people of the state, there would be no 
further complications touching the election of mem- 
bers of the legislature affecting that of senator. 

During the time that this validity of my title to 
a seat in the Senate was under investigation by the 
committee, no part was taken by me in the public de- 
bates. I made but one speech, which was at the in- 



288 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Stance of Mr. Cushman K. Davis, a senator from Min- 
nesota, who was my personal friend. He was at that 
time chairman of the committee on pensions, and re- 
quested me, as one of his colleagues serving upon the 
same committee, to address the Senate in behalf of the 
dependent pension bill, — then a new measure just re- 
ported, now for many years the law of the land. 



CHAPTER SEVENTEEN 

CANVASS OF 1892 THE STUMP SPEECH COMPARISON 

OF THE SPEECH AND PRESS 

In 1892 I made a large canvass of the state, not so 
extensive as some of those made formerly, but still 
a long tour. The main subjects of discussion were 
the force bill, and what were known as the federal 
election laws. These laws provided for the appoint- 
ment and service of a multitude of supervisors, in- 
spectors, and deputy marshals, who officiated at con- 
gressional elections held in the different states. These 
laws have since been repealed and these offices abol- 
ished by our action. In this way a great deal of 
Democratic policy has gone into the legislation of the 
country, which, although bitterly opposed at the time, 
has since been so generally approved, that the debates 
concerning it are almost forgotten. 

Being a candidate for reelection to the Senate, I 
made the canvass from that standpoint. The crowds 
in attendance were large, and the meetings were fre- 
quently held in the open air. This reminded me of old 
times, although United States senators did not then 
make the campaign as they now do. When a young 
man I rarely heard a senator on the stump, and never 

289 



290 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

in my own county ; I had always to make a journey of 
some distance to hear him. A senator then, of either 
party, was only required to make one speech in each 
congressional district. This was what was expected of 
him and was all that he usually did in the public 
canvass. The change of custom was mainly due to the 
precedent of Hendricks and Morton. These gentle- 
men were prominent political competitors, served some 
tiine as colleagues in the Senate, engaged actively 
in the debates at Washington, and continued these 
unfinished discussions at home afterward, in a wide 
circuit of towns and counties only limited by their 
time and strength. Their successors followed this ex- 
ample. The people thus accustomed to such a course 
were not otherwise satisfied. 

A recurrence to the period of the primitive can- 
vasser makes now a long view in retrospect. Two or 
three times in the beginning I have spoken literally 
from the stump — not a bad stand, but it has its limi- 
tations. The speaker from the stump was obliged to 
be careful of his steps, and guarded in his movements ; 
otherwise he lost his balance and fell, although there 
was nothing very perilous to his person in such a fall ; 
still he seldom recovered from the effects upon the 
audience produced by it. I have often spoken at the 
mill — a good place for a public meeting; the murmur 
of the machinery in grinding was not unpleasant, not 
at all obstructive. The sawmill was a convenient 
place on account of its facilities for seating the hearers 
— but the saw must be silent. The proprietor, how- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 29I 

ever, willingly stopped work upon the condition of a 
time limit, which was cheerfully agreed upon and 
strictly observed. Churches, school-houses, court- 
houses, and barns were formerly much in use ; in the 
towns at present other places are resorted to for this 
purpose. But the native home of the stump speech is 
in the woods or grove. One who altogether forgets 
this home and its surroundings, though he speaks else- 
where, will not so well please those who hear him as 
when he bears it in mind. 

It is proper to commence the speech by addressing 
the chairman of the meeting, to be followed by a 
greeting to the audience. This style of address to the 
chairman may be repeated at certain intervals after- 
ward. The speaker will always apostrophize some 
one — it is much easier to say "Mr. Chairman," than to 
say ''My Fellow Citizens" or "Ladies and Gentlemen." 
Besides this, addressing the chairman is a reminder to 
those present of the organization of the assembly 
over which he presides. Latterly speakers have been 
observed, who occupied a long time in their remarks 
without any notice of the chairman either in opening 
or closing, A political meeting held upon public ap- 
pointment is a lawful assembly recognized and pro- 
tected as such by statute. Its chairman is as much 
entitled to recognition as the presiding officer in a 
court of justice or in a legislative assembly. This 
ought not to be forgotten. Indeed the township or 
county meeting called to consider the affairs of the 
state or nation is the original germ, the procreant 



292 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

cradle, of our free institutions. The speech and the 
press are auxiHaries ; the town-meeting was not made 
for them, they were made for the town-meeting; it 
preceded them both. 

At the close the speaker should return thanks to 
the audience for their attendance and attention ; this is 
a matter both of duty and courtesy, which ought never 
to be omitted. The people have given their time and 
labor to make the occasion what it has been, and are 
entitled to special recognition. Into this final thanks- 
clause the speaker may perchance throw just a word 
referring to some subject before spoken of. Mr. 
Hendricks, Mr. Colfax and Mr. Willard were each 
very felicitous in making this touch at the close. 
These gentlemen were artists ; they were much more ; 
but in this they were artists, finished to the last line 
and stroke of excellence. 

The stump speech must not be too long,-^an hour 
and a half is a fair average; its precise length must 
depend upon the humor of the time and the temper 
of the audience; these are easily ascertained by one 
who is at all observant of such things; and if he be 
not, he had better observe silence. A speech may be 
occasionally very long, and yet not thought to be so, 
though this is a mark of perfection not often nor easily 
attained. The oratory of the hustings affords ample 
scope, not for the display, but for the rational use 
of rhetoric, logic and elocution. All these, however, 
must be thoroughly subordinated to the subjects occu- 
pying public attention. No one need be mistaken as 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 293 

to what these are ; in the cars, at the hotel, in the shop 
of the blacksmith, on the street corners, he may daily 
hear of them. These, subjects should be studiously 
developed by his best thought, delivered in his best 
language. Flippancy ought to be avoided, and es- 
pecially the affectation of speaking down to the level 
of the audience; the speaker may be well persuaded 
that those who hear him, save in respect to facility 
of expression, or some particular lines of culture, are 
fully his equals, some of them his superiors. When 
he becomes unintelligible, the fault is his, not that of 
his auditors. The most careful preparation is to be 
commended: people soon detect a sloven and grow 
tired of him. There is also needed in this exercise 
self-possession, somewhat of tact in handling an 
audience, and above all things, sincerity. This is as 
indispensable a requisite to the public speaker as 
charity to the Christian character. Where this is 
lacking nothing else will avail; the sounding brass 
and the tinkling cymbal are as readily discerned in 
the one case as in the other. 

The stump has its follies, its blunders, its frip- 
peries and oddities, but not any more of them than 
the pulpit or the bar. A stump speech of the highest 
order is a magnificent exhibition of intellectual power. 

Whether the general style of what is sometimes 
called stump oratory has grown better in the last half- 
century in our state is a question not easy to determine. 
As to those persons that regularly engage in the public 
canvass of the state from one campaign to another, 



1294 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

it is to be presumed that there may be some degree 
of improvement residting from continued practice and 
experience. But the number of such persons, of all 
parties, is so inconsiderable that the betterment in 
such case can affect the aggregate very little. Esti- 
mating ten persons to each county, the local candi- 
dates and others not candidates, and the persons who 
address political meetings at cross-roads, at school- 
houses, and such localities — as useful a service as any 
other — there must be in a general campaign in the 
state nearly one thousand who take part as speakers. 
Comparing one series of campaigns with another 
during the period mentioned, in the matter of style 
and delivery of the mass of things spoken at large 
from the hustings, there has been little change. 

It is not to be inferred from this that such style 
and manner are at all inferior; rather that they have 
been so fitting and appropriate to the various occa- 
sions of their use as not easily to be amended or im- 
proved except by a longer continued progress in the 
future. 

Although state policy has from time to time en- 
gaged the attention of public canvassers, yet stump 
speaking has been for the most part employed in the 
discussion of national questions. From 1830 to 1840 
differences of opinion concerning canal construction, 
and other projects of the internal improvement sys- 
tem of the state then in vogue, became so sharply de- 
fined that even members of Congress and senators were 
chosen on these grounds. In later years questions 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 295 

relating to our domestic and local government have 
not been controlling or dominant issues, with the ex- 
ception, perhaps, of the canvass of 1882, which was 
made chiefly upon the question of the submission of 
an amendment to the state constitution concerning 
the manufacture and sale of intoxicants. 

It has often been said that questions relating to 
state policy should enter more generally into public 
discussion than they now do ; also that these questions 
are of a somewhat non-partizan character, and should 
be dealt with as such. Yet it is the fault or mis- 
fortune of the time, perhaps the peculiar trait of a 
free people, that there can be no plenary or popular 
consideration of a subject lying outside the field of 
party contests. The opinion of political experts and 
operators is often at variance with those of the people, 
without being known to be so, in default of prior 
discussion ; hence the repeal or amendment of our laws 
is almost as frequent as their enactment. 

A full and exhaustive discussion of the merits of a 
particular measure seems hitherto to have depended 
upon its being made an issue between opposing parties. 
This practice is derived probably from the form of 
legal procedure in our courts of justice, the object of 
which is to reach an issue denied by one side and af- 
firmed by the other. This may not be a perfect mode 
of determining rights or opinions, still it may include 
and may in time develop a way more excellent. 
Though hard to attain, it is not difficult to conceive a 
state of free society and of the fullest franchise of de- 



296 SKETCHES OP MV OWN TIMES 

bate, in which our present methods might be regarded 
as somewhat crude and immature. Time has amended 
them; they are, however, not incapable of further 
betterment. 

Upon questions of pubhc pohcy men do yet greatly 
differ as to what is true, as to what is just and right. 
But they are agreed now as never before upon what 
is the spirit of truth and justice — to hear both sides. 
This disposition, so universal, to hear both sides — 
all sides — before action or decision, is an auspicious 
omen. It tends to improve the elements that com- 
pose parties. It is disconnected with the regular cir- 
cuit of party action ; still it is a live wire and may be 
accounted the token of an advance era in political 
culture. 

Although a large part of my life has been spent in 
addressing juries, legislative and popular assemblies, 
yet I seldom rose to speak to an audience, large or 
small, without a feeling of some embarrassment, a 
sort of indefinable dread or depression. Many of my 
companions and associates, men like Hendricks, Kerr, 
Pratt, Voorhees, Holman, and not a few others, have 
spoken to me of being subject to a like sensation at 
the bar, and while engaged in the labor of the hust- 
ings. Senator Pratt told me once, in conversation 
about this, that just before he rose to address a jury 
in a critical case, this sensation sometimes took sc 
strong hold of him that he w^ould have given anythinj. 
in the world if he could in some manner have fled, 
or avoided or deferred the argument he intended to 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 297 

make. Yet he was one who never made a failure at 
such time, and who discharged his duties as an advo- 
cate absokitely without fear of consequences. 

This strange feehng seems to have httle or no con- 
nection with either physical or moral courage. The 
most valiant have been affected by it; the bravest of 
the brave, those who have faced death in battle in a 
thousand forms, have changed color and trembled in 
the presence of this seemingly fantastic terror. 

This is well exemplified by a circumstance in the 
early life of our first president. Washington, before 
the Revolution, when a young man, served several 
terms as a member of the Colonial legislature of Vir- 
ginia. Upon the occasion of his first taking his seat 
in that body the speaker, in accordance with the reso- 
lution of the house, publicly thanked him in highly 
complimentary terms, for his eminent military ser- 
vices in defending the frontier against the Indians. 
At the close of this address Washington rose to make 
his acknowledgments. An eye-witness relates that he 
blushed deeply, that he trembled, stammered, and was 
unable to utter a single word. The speaker came to 
the relief of the new member in the most courteous 
manner. "Sit down. Colonel Washington ; your mod- 
esty is only equaled by your valor, and that surpasses 
any power of language that I possess." 

This sensation, in the ordinary language of the peo- 
ple, is called stage fright, and is much more preva- 
lent among that class of persons called stump speakers 
than is generally supposed. The name given it, like 



298 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

many other similar homelike expressions, has in It 
a large body of truth. The basis of the feeling is 
fright, or fear, but perhaps not so much the fear 
of others as that of the speaker's self. He has his 
own standard of excellence, the audience have theirs, 
and his reputation may have preceded him ; this has 
raised expectations, and he is apprehensive that he may 
fall short of their requirements. Such apprehension, 
however, is only a partial explanation of the subject, 
since stage fright is often severely felt by those who 
have no repute as public speakers and desire none; 
by those who undertake the recital or rehearsal of the 
words and sentiments of others, not their own; and 
by those who take only the most formal part in pub- 
lic meetings and are not at all concerned either as to 
the approval or disapproval of the hearers. 

It may therefore be well conceived that there is, in 
the disposition of most persons, a natural, instinctive 
aversion to the disclosure of the inner habits and cos- 
tume of the mind, — for like the body it has these in- 
timate belongings. This dread of publicity has no 
reference to the concealment of motives or opinions, 
or to the good or evil report of what may be said or 
spoken in public; it is not at all related to craft or 
guile ; it is a remonstrance pure and simple, against 
such an exposure. It resembles very much what we 
call, in private life, shyness or bashfulness. No one 
attaches to these mental traits any notion of moral 
delinquency; they are rather objects of sympathy than 
censure. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 299 

This inherent sensitiveness of the mind, touching 
the disclosure of its own habitudes, may to a greater 
or lesser extent be hidden or suppressed, but in some 
constitutions, perhaps in many more than we imagine, 
it is so strong as to be uncontrollable. The person 
liable to such an attack is often unaware of the 
strength of the feeling until the actual test is made. 
Then, upon some occasion of public appearance and 
utterance, it is suddenly found that the will is power- 
less, the faculties of speech and memory are affected, 
the sight and the breath fail. 

Custom and usage, long practice of well ordered 
self-possession, may mitigate or alleviate this sort 
of panic, may enable the public canvasser to conceal 
its effects or symptoms, but it is questionable whether 
the liability to its recurrence is ever wholly removed. 

Indeed, this emotion may have been for wise pur- 
poses permanently implanted in our nature ; for al- 
though it has been often called fanciful and irrational, 
in the mingled elements of our mental structure it may 
have a place and office useful and beneficent. It is 
nearly allied to some of the most amiable qualities — 
to modesty, to humility, to self-denial — and it is in 
direct restraint of egotism, of impudence, and of 
vainglorious self-adulation, which, if they be not vices, 
are yet accounted among the foibles and frailties of 
humanity. 

The public speaker, especially if he be a young be- 
ginner, is not to be disparaged because he may for a 
time be disconcerted, and even plainly show his em- 



300 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

barrassment ; such a manner is much to be preferred 
to the air of one replete with self-sufficiency, who has 
no feeling- of responsibility in the position that he has 
assumed, who wastes his own time and that of others 
in idle words, and sits down at last unconscious of his 
failure. 

He who participates in any manner in the public 
canvass of the state voluntarily takes upon himself 
the part of an adviser and counselor of men in their 
temporal affairs of the highest moment. The stump 
speaker is a public teacher — that or nothing. In the 
course of such a life he may attain to office and to po- 
litical honors, but these are only incidents by the way. 
My memory recurs with pleasure to persons, not a 
few, who in my own time declined nominations and 
elections, yet took a large part in the labor of the 
hustings merely from a sense of their duty as citizens 
to the state and nation. Their sole reward was found 
in the respect, the esteem, and the worshipful regard 
of their fellow countrymen — in their view the noblest 
recompense. This generation of men have not yet 
disappeared ; they still live and make their home among 
us; of such is the household of liberty. 

Recent speculation has been a good deal employed 
upon the inquiry as to how long this system or method 
of stump speaking will last, and upon the question of 
its value and utility. Thoughtful students of the 
history of the hustings may well perceive that al- 
though in our own country and Great Britain this 
is an old and familiar institution, yet in the world at 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3OI 

large it is rare, uncommon. In by far the greater 
number of human governments it is not found ; it is 
not allowed nor permitted, and has no existence. I 
have heard an account of one American who. a long 
time ago, made a stump speech on the continent of 
Europe. He was an Indianian, and addressed the peo- 
ple in the street from the balcony of his hotel in Ber- 
lin. He was soon silenced with the comment that 
although such action might be allowable enough at 
home, it was contrary to the custom and law of the 
country in which he was then sojourning. 

The system of speaking to popular assemblies upon 
political topics obtains even now only in a small mi- 
norit}^ of the nations of the earth, and these are the 
most free, the most highly civilized and enlightened. 
Nevertheless, mere civilization and enlightenment are 
not at all coincident with political and civil liberty. 
The railway, the telegraph, the telephone, schools and 
universities, abound under the most absolute despot- 
isms. It is only the love of the people, not for what 
is called national wealth, military or naval power, or 
territorial acquisitions, but the pure innate love of 
freedom for its own sake that can preserve such a 
system as that of the hustings. 

Whenever the ballot, that great implement of lib- 
erty, instead of being an expression of opinion, be- 
comes constantly and continuously only a matter of 
purchase, of intimidation, of military or administra- 
tive compulsion, the stump speech will be useless, and 
the stump speaker will become as extinct as the beaver 



302 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

or the buffalo. There may be, and doubtless are, 
some members of the modern school of what is called 
progress, who would account this extinction as no loss. 
Yet it would indicate the disappearance of some things 
heretofore regarded as invaluable. National wealth, 
splendor and rapacity are but wretched substitutes for 
freedom of speech and of the press. 

In what is sometimes said about the stump speech 
being supplanted by the daily or weekly newspaper, 
it should be remembered that although freedom of 
speech and of the press are, in a free government, close 
companions, they are not identical — each has its own 
sphere and province. For the first fifteen or twenty 
years of life, the earliest and most impressible period, 
we depend mainly upon oral tradition. We learn 
what we are taught ; we know what we are told ; the 
masses of mankind adhere to this primitive method 
and still prefer it. The work of the press has been 
greatly enlarged during the last half-century, but that 
of oral teaching and tradition has kept full pace with 
this in the enhanced labor of the platform and the 
hustings. Only a small minority of our people have 
the leisure to read studiously and continuously. The 
great majority read, yet they prefer the oral discus- 
sion of a subject; they would rather hear than read. 
The constituencies of Indiana are in political knowl- 
edge and information not excelled by any other. Even 
long before the press became so prominent, Indiana 
enjoyed this reputation. Our state, as Mr. Voorhees 
said, has been for many years the Belgium of politics, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 303 

the debatable land between great contending parties 
and opinions. That this condition obtained and yet 
continues, is due to the oral teaching and tradition of 
the stump more than to any other instrumentality. 

As to which of these two methods would survive if 
both were threatened with extinction, the chances 
rather favor speech than written or printed communi- 
cation. The press must have a local habitation, a 
special apparatus for its utterances. Speech is more 
volatile and irrepressible. As we may note even now, 
the press is somewhat prone to serve the master, 
whether the master be the people or an absolute ruler. 
Newspapers and periodicals abound in St. Petersburg, 
but in any American sense they are without political 
significance. The government of the empire is one 
of great strength and simplicity. The word liberty 
is there seldom heard. The best wish to be made 
for our posterity is that they may succeed to the large 
estate of liberty which we have hitherto enjoyed; and 
for ourselves, that we may do nothing to disturb 
their succession to this ample heritage. 



CHAPTER EIGHTEEN 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SESSION OF 

1894 THE NICARAGUA CANAL BILL THE CONSTI- 
TUTION OF THE UNITED STATES 

In December, 1894, a debate began and was con- 
tinued through many sessions upon a bill proposing 
to aid the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua, a 
corporation organized for the purpose of constructing 
a ship canal across the American isthmus by the Nica- 
ragua route. The subsidy provided for in the bill 
took the form of an indorsed guaranty, to be made by 
the government, of the bonds of the company to the 
amount of one hundred millions of dollars. 

I had always favored the enterprise of building an 
isthmian canal. As the ocean-gate between the two 
continents of the western world, it would make the 
liberty of the seas, in a new sense, available for ever ; 
it would complete the noble task and fulfil the pro- 
phetic vision of the first great discoverer: "This at 
last is the way to the Indies." I was, however, op- 
posed to the pending bill, and the first objection there- 
to, often urged, repeated and restated, was that Con- 
gress under the constitution had no authority to 
indorse or guarantee the bonds of a corporation for 

304 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 305 

the purpose named therein or for any other. The 
friends of the measure wholly ignored the constitu- 
tional objection, and this led to a broad field of debate, 
comprising an examination in detail of the company's 
survey and estimates, the profile of its proposed route, 
and a comparison of this enterprise with those of 
Suez, Corinth, Panama, and other maritime canals of 
the world. Probably there never has been in any leg- 
islative body a more complete or thorough discus- 
sion of a measure than that which took place in the 
Senate on the subject of this bill. Notwithstanding 
its frequent re-introduction and the continued efforts 
of its supporters to promote its favorable considera- 
tion, the measure failed and the subsidy was not 
granted. 

The position was also taken that if the money or 
credit of this country was needed to construct this 
waterway, it should be built by the direct action and 
authority of the national goverinment and, when com- 
pleted, should be the property of the United States. 
In this manner no constitutional objection would in- 
tervene, for without question our government can 
build a canal or harbor, as it may at home, in any part 
of the world, having first acquired the international 
cessions and assent needed for that purpose, — the only 
question in such case being as to the wisdom and ex- 
pediency of such an enterprise. 

Congress has since been engaged in considering 
the reports of various presidential commissions, ap- 
pointed to make examination of the different routes 



306 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

with a view to the construction of an isthmian canal 
by the direct action of the government. 

The prolonged controversy touching the subsidy 
bihs of the Maritime Canal Company, while it was 
in some degree useful and instructive, was in any le- 
gal aspect totally irrelevant. The bill ought to have 
been beaten upon constitutional grounds alone, with- 
out any reference to this particular corporation or to 
the character of the enterprise in which it was en- 
gaged. It was not claimed that the power to indorse 
and guarantee such bonds was anywhere granted in 
the constitution ; but it was said that it was not for- 
bidden and therefore might be lawfully exercised. 

This specious fallacy barely escaped a qualified ap- 
proval in certain recent judicial decisions, and it is 
eagerly supported by a very opulent class of political 
monopolists, who wish to utilize the government to 
promote their further pecuniary aggrandizement. 

Powers not forbidden are not thereby granted. 
Such powers are not mentioned in the constitution 
and mere silence is not a grant. Powers forbidden, — 
for example : "Congress shall make no law abridging 
the freedom of the press," — are thereby not granted. 
But to hold that powers not forbidden are thereby 
conferred would make many entire sections and ar- 
ticles of the instrument mere surplusage. The pro- 
visions touching the powers enumerated and granted 
are idle and nugatory, if powers not forbidden are for 
that reason to be held as given. There was no neces- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3O7 

sity for the article in relation to reserved powers, if 
powers not prohibited were thus delegated. Why 
make a reservation of powers or a method of con- 
ferring other powers if, as claimed by this construc- 
tion, all powers not prohibited are already conferred? 

The constitution by its own terms makes authorita- 
tive and final disposition of the powers not delegated, 
not forbidden, and thus not set forth or expressed in 
the text of the instrument. These powers are not 
vested in the courts, in Congress, or in the president, 
but only in the states or the people. 

Such a doctrine as that just mentioned imposes no 
constitutional limitations upon the use of power, ex- 
except where its exercise is actually prohibited. All 
other powers whatsoever, according to this assump- 
tion, are granted, either because they are expressly 
given or for the reason that they are not inhibited. 

Under this mode of construction, a judicial decision 
can never be a rule — a rule of action — still less can it 
ever become a standard fixed and determinate of either 
rights or remedies. It can have only the character 
of an interlocutory decree or temporary order, to be 
changed to and fro at the discretion or caprice of the 
majority of those who sit in judgment upon such 
questions. 

For the first century after its adoption jurists of all 
parties conceded that under the constitution this was 
a government of delegated or granted powers ; those 
not granted or clearly implied, as necessary to the exer- 



308 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

cise of those given, had no existence. The silences of 
the constitution, in this respect, were regarded as ob- 
Hgatory as its utterances. 

The constitution, except as to one race and subject, 
is unchanged ; it is substantially the same as when it 
came from our forefathers. It is the same as that 
which the most celebrated liberal jurists and states- 
men, not only of our land, but of the whole world, 
have commended as the most perfect model of free 
government ever devised or established by human 
wisdom. Yet there is a change, very noticeable, in the 
respect, in the regard, rendered to constitutional man- 
dates ; and this change is due to the hostility of those 
who, for various purposes, have been laboring to 
undermine and to annul their authority. 

The constitution used to be denounced by those in- 
terested in the anti-slavery movement, as a league with 
hell and a covenant with death ; but liberty for all has 
now for more than a generation been graven into the 
original text. It has to-day become the fashion to de- 
nounce it as antique, as superannuated, and to speak 
of its provisions as physicians speak of what they call 
the rudimentary organs of the human body, concern- 
ing which it is disputed whether they ever had, or 
were designed to have, any useful function or purpose. 
What may have been the causes which have induced 
this decline in our reverence for the supreme law of 
the land, too manifest in Congress, in the legislatures 
of the states, and in many of the legal tribunals of the 
country, it may be difficult to say. 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3O9 

There is a class of statesmen at present who are 
very emphatic upon such terms as nation and govern- 
ment, — words proper enough upon occasion but not at 
all descriptive. There are in the diplomatic circle of 
the world about forty powers, all of which are nations 
and each of which has a government. The grand dis- 
tinctive features of our polity are that the United 
States is a Republic, and that its government is con- 
trolled by the free action of the people. These features 
are historically and practically founded upon the Union 
— the union of the states — a political element the most 
remarkable, and one in its development and growth 
without a parallel, in modern or ancient history; a 
union bound together by a written constitution, en- 
folding in its wise and massive sentences the germ and 
origin of all the real progress and prosperity, as well 
as of the influence and prestige, of the Republic. These 
persons would supplant our constitutional govern- 
ment by a dual system, composed of their ideal of the 
Republic at home with some sort of anomalous domin- 
ion unknown to the constitution in our possessions 
elsewhere. This system thus far may have received 
the sanction of three departments of the government — 
the executive, legislative and judicial. The action of 
these departments in approval of this new form is 
an exercise prematurely of powers not yet delegated 
to either or all of these, but expressly reserved to an- 
other department — the greatest, purest and wisest, as 
it is the most powerful department, the department of 
the states and people. This last mentioned depart- 



310 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ment, in its action, jndgment and decision, upon a pro- 
posal to make any change in the constitution, does not 
depend upon a mere majority, Ixit the vote of each 
state, to the number of three- fourths of the whole, -is 
necessary to the approval of any change in the form of 
government such as this dual system requires. If 
there be in the constitution of this Republic what jurists 
call a casus omissus, which is by no means conceded, 
this omission can not legally be supplied by an act of 
Congress or by a judicial opinion or decision. Such a 
decision would disclose its conscious infirmity. 

Certain leading statesmen, now and then dominant 
in the administration, have taken as a rule for their 
public action an old monarchical maxim, slightly mod- 
ified, that the king can do no wrong; it now reads, 
the majority can do no wrong. Whereas, it is only 
the majority that can do wrong. The constitution 
binds all, both the greater and the lesser number, but 
in a special sense it binds the majority. The ma- 
jority has all the power — its action may imperil the 
constitutional limitations upon power which that of 
the minority could not do. It is the majority which 
has the power to do either right or wrong. It was to 
prevent wrong-doing by the majority in the courts, in 
the Congress, and in the executive departments of the 
government, that our fundamental law has placed 
fixed limits upon the exercise of power. 

One of the causes of the laxity of opinion, touching 
our constitutional obHgations, is the sheer impunity 
with which the majority may violate them. The con- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 3II 

stitution is not self-operative. Its preservation and 
observance must depend upon the fidelity of those to 
whom are committed the functions of the federal 
government. The highest officers of the Republic are. 
if acting with the majority, subject to no punishment 
for its violation. Impeachment can inflict no penalty 
for any act or omission, however unwarranted, which 
is approved by the greater number; a small minor- 
ity of either house of Congress may prevent prosecu- 
tion or conviction upon impeachment ; much more can 
a majority do this. In a free government, of neces- 
sity, the only sanctions for the performance of duty 
in its higher stations are those of conscience and 
honor; where these are lacking, limitations of power 
cease. It has been said that the constitution will not 
be in the way of innovations ; this, is true, the consti- 
tution can never be in the way of a majority that is V" 
determined not to be bound by its provisions. 

Senator McDonald, in his public canvass of these 
subjects, was accustomed to assert that the great gen- 
eral principles of free government had been agreed 
upon and settled by and for the people in their adop- 
tion of the constitution and its amendments ; that even 
the main policies of government had been settled in 
like manner; that the only questions remaining open 
related to the choice of ways and means in the execu- 
tion of the powers granted. The constitutional right 
of freedom of the press was in his time, during the 
Civil War, often violated. Newspapers were often sup- 
pressed and suspended. He affirmed that such acts 



312 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

were lawless outrages of arbitrary power, and con- 
demned the administration for approving or allowing 
them. He declined to discuss the question of the free- 
dom of the press, saying that had already been settled 
by the constitution ; what was needed was not discus- 
sion or controversy but obedience — obedience to the 
supreme law of the land. 

In like manner he spoke of the tariff, which he called 
a perpetual issue as certain of occurrence as death or 
taxes. He asserted that Congress is empowered "to 
lay and collect duties/' that levy and collection are thus 
inseparably joined as the complements of each other; 
to lay a duty which was not to be collected, but only to 
prohibit importations, was as gross a violation of the 
constitution as to collect duties which had not been 
levied. Sometimes, though always under protest, he 
would notice the mischiefs incurred by the breach of 
this constitutional mandate; he spoke of the monopo- 
lies and combinations which a high prohibitory rate of 
duties invariably created, entailing evils unnumbered 
in their course first and most keenly felt by the many, 
because the law of the people had been broken. But 
these, as he said, were the very reasons why the levy 
and collection of duties had been coupled together ; our 
part was to obey, not to debate. 

To-day it might be said to him, if living, that the 
fraudulent merger and that inscrutable, intangible 
agency called unity of interest, are merely evolutions ; 
doubtless they are evolutions born and bred by the 
violation of our constitutional policy. They are evo- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 313 

kitions of evil, unless the sordid pest of covetousness is 
to be canonized as one of the saintly virtues of hu- 
manity. 

Commerce, with its accompaniments of mining, 
transportation and manufactures, collectively called 
business, has always been a highly favored instru- 
mentality in this Republic. It has always had the in- 
cidental and continuous advantages arising from the 
revenue system of the government, but it is now not 
content with these. Those interested in the vast con- 
cerns of interstate and foreign commerce are not satis- 
fied with the regular and natural gains of trade; they 
aspire to the potential control of our national policy. 
Hence our legislative and electoral contests have too 
much assumed the form of violent struggles between 
different classes as to which shall most profit by the 
favoritism of the government, and with little consid- 
eration of the public good ; which shall be most largely 
aided by direct or indirect subsidies granted by con- 
gressional enactment. 

It is vain to found a government or to make use of 
one already established for the purpose of maintaining 
the supremacy, or dominant sovereignty, of pelf. The 
sovereignty of the purse is a wretched travesty upon 
the sovereignty of the people. Mankind has always, 
as a choice between two evils, preferred the rule of the 
soldier to that of the money monarch. The degree of 
oppression under military rule is measurable ; it is 
certain, constant, and, from its very nature, disci- 
plined and regular ; tlie thraldom of monopoly is im- 



314 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

measurable and insufferable. CcTsar and Napoleon 
were great warriors, but they permitted no oppression 
of the people except their own. As rulers they held 
the promoters, the speculators, the revenue farmers 
and the whole unscrupulous membership of the money 
league of their time, under thorough subjection; and 
for this reason the people and the army supported the 
empire. 

Whether we are already held in subservience to 
these forms of misgovernment may be disputed ; but 
the indications of the approach of the monopoly rule 
are very apparent ; if unarrested and unresisted it will 
sooner or later arrive. This result is not at all uncer- 
tain because it may be unforeseen. Upon the advent 
of either of these systems of misrule the Republic, ex- 
cept in mere name, will disappear; the constitution 
will become a forgotten parchment ; nevertheless lib- 
erty will not be lost to the world because a single gen- 
eration may have failed or faltered in its maintenance. 

The object of business, quite legitimate and proper 
in its own sphere, is to enrich those who own and con- 
duct it. It is otherwise said that the object of busi- 
ness is to employ labor ; this is only an incident. There 
is no branch of business that employs labor or pays its 
wages ; business merely expends for such purposes a 
part of the money with which it is furnished by the 
public, in exchange for its product. It is the public, 
the people at large, who really hire and pay both the 
employer and the employee in every department of in- 
dustry. Not promoters nor directors, therefore, but 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 315 

the people, have by law the power of control and regu- 
lation, to be exercised when required for the general 
safety and welfare. No just administration of the 
government will acquire office, or use its functions, by 
a barter to make business an absolute ruler. This is 
of all tyrannies the worst ; it taunts the people at once 
with the loss of power and the lash of servitude. 

Not business as such, liut its unjust pretension to 
arbitrary rule, is the subject of censure and restraint. 
The absolutism of business is not alone to be curbed 
and condemned, — the lawless domination of any other 
interest or element is to be as strongly deprecated. In 
many countries, at different periods, there have been 
evil times when the whole forces of government have 
been exerted to aggrandize particular interests — those 
of the market, the exchange, or the hierarchy. Against 
these ruinous mischiefs our fathers were careful to 
provide. Not hostility to any useful element, not the 
undue predominance of any interest, but the peaceable 
cooperation and equal rights of all are enjoined by our 
.constitution, no less by its mandates than by its pro- 
hibitions. 

John Jacob Astor, a native of Germany, but by 
choice and adoption an American citizen, Vi-'as our 
first multi-millionaire. He was in every respect a busi- 
ness man, the head of many companies and associa- 
tions, a captain of industry who traded with both the 
Indies and encircled the globe with his far-reaching 
enterprise. He was the patron of learning and letters, 
the friend of Halleck and Irving, and abounded in 



3l6 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

works of private and public beneficence; yet he gath- 
ered his milHons in a strange way, now almost incred- 
ible. He became the richest man in the United States, 
one of the richest in the world, without the aid of 
furtive rebates, of clandestine drawbacks, or of pro- 
hibitory tariffs. 

It is said to-day in certain quarters that business is 
king, and that the chief rulers in this realm of business 
are rightfully empowered to draft all human instru- 
mentalities into their service and to invoke the aid of 
hunger, cold, famine and nakedness, to enhance their 
gains. Everything has not yet gone into the market ; 
there are some things that can not be cornered like food 
or fuel; among these is conscience, closely allied with 
justice. 

There is a very old Republican maxim concerning 
justice, mightily approved and enforced in the purest 
and palmiest days of the ancient Roman common- 
wealth, long before business became king there and 
bought the first office in the government for money in 
the open market. 

Let justice be done though the heavens fall. 

"To establish justice" is a declared and fundamental 
purpose of our constitution. There are many pro- 
visions in the supreme law relating to the business of 
the country; all of them are the dictates of that justice 
which pervades every part of the instrument. It is 
provided that Congress shall have the power to regu- 
late commerce between the several states. The per- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 317 

sons engag-ed in that business, who own and direct it, 
have no such power, nor can they lawfully assume it. 
It is provided further that no law shall be passed im- 
pairing the obligation of contract, implying of neces- 
sity the preservation of freedom of contract, since 
there would be no reason for preserving such obliga- 
tion if the right of free contract itself may be annulled 
or abrogated. Article nine of Amendments declares 
that the enumeration of certain rights in the constitu- 
tion shall not be construed to deny or disparage others 
retained by the people. 

These rights of the people, not to be denied or dis- 
paraged, are no mere abstractions. They are of all 
rights the most concrete, the most practical, useful 
and general. ■ They belong to man as such, not because 
he has, but because he is something — something that 
will not perish when the earth passes away. Among 
these rights is that of freely buying and selling in the 
open market, a right of daily necessity in procuring 
food and the means of light, warmth and shelter. It 
is founded wholly upon and includes the right of 
freedom of contract. Every citizen is entitled to a 
free market where the vendor shall be an actual seller, 
not a mere purveyor of commodities at a fixed ex 
parte price ; and where the purchaser is a buyer, not a 
mere dependent forced to the option of paying the 
price thus imposed, or of doing without the commod- 
ity he needs, which by reason of the combination he 
can not procure elsewhere. Even when an article 
changes hands and the money is paid in such ex parte 



3IO SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

case, there is no sale. The chief element in a bona fide 
sale is the price or value of what is bought ; it is settled 
by negotiation, by the mutual agreement voluntarily 
made between buyer and seller; but in such a transac- 
tion as this the price is fixed, preestablished, by the 
owners of the commodity in combination who have ab- 
sorbed or stifled supply and have reduced demand to a 
condition of servile compliance. 

The old institution of slavery had other and darker 
features, but that system was financed upon a method 
in close resemblance to this. The owner furnished the 
slave with food, raiment and quarters at a fixed price, 
to which the slave never agreed nor assented — the price 
was his labor for life, which he was forced to pay. 
Were the owner and slave buyer and seller in this 
transaction of the commodities furnished ? Not at all. 
There was a merger of both buyer and seller in the 
master. 

The courts yet recognize and enforce the contract 
of sale; justice still afiirms and approves it; but what 
does this profit, when the daily actual practice of mo- 
nopoly by its duress of the market, claiming to be su- 
perior to both law and justice, impairs the obligation 
of contract, destroys the free right of contract itself, 
and in effect decrees that in regard to its commodities 
the contract of sale shall be abolished. 

There is and can be no law authorizing such a 
method ; it is a wholly lawless usurpation that threat- 
ens in its ascendancy not only to extinguish the right 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 319 

of contract, ]xit all the rights of freemen that stand in 
the way of this mercenary coalition. 

Several of the wealthiest members of this coalition 
have been seized with a sort of religious delusion, a 
superstition very strong and seductive. These de- 
votees believe and openly teach the dogma that the 
merger, and the form of financial artifice known as the 
unity of interest, are evolutions ineffably pure and 
immaculate, and that neither constitutions nor laws 
are needed for the protection of human rights during 
the reign of these saints upon earth. So enormous 
is the credulity begotten of self-interest! 

'The natural rights of men were not given nor con- 
ferred upon them; they are inherent and original. 
There are other rights dependent upon charter, law or 
statute ; such rights are secondary and subordinate, 
and are granted by a power superior to the grantee, 
that of government ; but always with the condition that 
they shall not be used to injure or destroy the primary 
and sovereign rights of the people. 

Indeed we have been taught from the beginning un- 
til now that to secure these rights of men inherent and 
inalienable, governments were instituted among men. 
The government, or the administration of any govern- 
ment, which does not, or will not, secure these rights, 
is guilty of a breach of its constitutional obligations. 
That any government or administration should itself 
infringe upon these rights, or allow any other influ- 
ence, agency or authority to do so, is equally a viola- 
tion of the highest duty. 



320 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

We have now many laws, state and federal, de- 
nouncing crimes and felonies committed in relation to 
the railway system. A hundred years ago these were 
not thought of — they were not needed. New offenses, 
the growth of new conditions, require new enactments 
w4th adequate penalties and punishment. We have 
long since provided penal laws against smuggling and 
counterfeiting, not only against the persons but also 
against the goods and wares of those contraband 
transactions. No lawmaker has ever proposed to reg- 
ulate these offenses or that of the wilful obstruction of 
a railway track. Regulation implies permission, tol- 
eration and allowance. Train wrecking is not regu- 
lated; smuggling and counterfeiting are punished as 
frauds against the government. They are denounced 
as crimes, and a large force in the secret service is em- 
ployed in their detection. A conspiracy to destroy the 
freedom of contract and of the market, in any form, is 
a greater offense than those already made penal — more 
criminal in its design and in its consequences. There 
is a certain class of evolutionists who think that frauds 
against the government ought to be detected and pun- 
ished, but that frauds against the people should be im- 
mune. 

It is no matter of surprise that a government as old 
as ours should have a contest with monopoly. This is 
a part of the historic routine of national life wherever 
free institutions have had an existence. Though there 
may be something new in form or manner, it is in sub- 
stance a repetition of the old struggle between privi- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 32I 

lege or prerogative and human freedom. Sometimes 
it has been the prerogative of the sword, sometimes 
that of the purse, or again that of caste, birth or rank, 
that has sought and gained ascendancy in the govern- 
ments of mankind, but ahvays with the same conse- 
quences — the ultimate subservience of the many to the 
few. 

Communism, in any form, whether national, public 
or private, is not a cure for these evils. It has been 
often tried, before and since the Christian era, in many 
countries and ages long prior to the formation of this 
government. Our constitution was not framed upon 
the communistic principle, still less upon that of 
monopoly or exclusive prerogative. It was founded 
and adopted by a generation of men not ignorant of 
either of these elements, to prevent those evils for 
which communism had failed as a remedy, and to 
suppress those wrongs which monopoly had formerly 
inflicted upon the people. The constitution enforced 
will effect these objects; neglected or abandoned it will 
fail to do so. 

The scheme of our government rests upon men as 
individuals — free, wise and brave, massed in such 
numbers as to assert and maintain their rights. Com- 
munism and monopoly are founded alike on the extinc- 
tion of the individual, the unit of freedom. The one 
effects this by the destruction of the rights of free 
men, the other by the absorption of the individual into 
the body of a vast proletariat, paid and salaried by 
the government as an employer, whose members may 



322 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

assume that they have no need of rights as individ- 
uals ; the pubhc treasury is to be their patrimony, and 
its paternal protection is all-sufficient. 

Both of these elements, monopoly and communism, 
are equally inimical to constitutional freedom. A 
large majority of our constituencies are not attached to 
either, and they, as yet, occupy a position in which 
they need make no choice between them, and may re- 
ject both. A union of the friends of constitutional 
rule to suppress the power of monopoly, now most ap- 
parent and menacing, would also prevent the increase 
of communism. Monopoly is the cause, communism 
is the effect. The enforcement and reestablishment of 
justice, the original purpose of the constitution, will 
destroy monopoly; the other element will rapidly dis- 
appear. Justice is king. The law is its instrument of 
rule, its scepter. Among a free people justice will be 
enthroned. The invisible syndicates of Mammon, 
which have too often controlled the agencies of the 
visible government, will dissolve and perish. In the 
stronghold of the constitution there is a whole arma- 
ment of powers amply sufficient to annul exclusive 
privileges, to restore the equality of rights, and to 
overthrow the despotism of the dollar. 

Under the rule of a free republic, wherever there is 
a wrong there is a remedy. In some millennial era of 
ideal innocence, when the sheep may choose the wolf 
for their shepherd, we may fully trust the wrong-doer 
and his confederates to find and enforce a remedy. 

There is a class or sect of agitators who insist that 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 323 

the people have grown tired of constitutional govern- 
ment, weary of its checks, restraints and balances, and 
that they desire a government of powers flexible, in- 
definite, general and unbounded. If this be indeed the 
wish of the people, there is a way open, peaceable and 
well authorized, in which it may be expressed and 
gratified. 

Why not submit amendments to the constitution, 
embodying such new powers as may be deemed neces- 
sary, or providing for the repeal of the whole power- 
granting clause, and authorizing the administration of 
the government to be conducted at the will or discre- 
tion of the majority, for the time being, in office? This 
would give the friends and supporters of the present 
form of government the opportunity of being heard, of 
freely discussing the merits and the supposed defects 
of our organic law; and if they were overborne by an 
adverse majority they would have reasons most rele- 
vant for acquiescing in the result, — for, in the words 
of the great Declaration, it is the right of the people to 
alter or abolish any form of government and to insti- 
tute a new one — a right inherent and undeniable, but 
it is the right of the people only. 

This method of procedure is to be much commended 
in the interest of the peace and safety of society; it is 
far preferable to that of innovating upon the consti- 
tution by means of judicial action. In the method of 
judicial innovation a single citizen who happened to 
occupy a seat upon the bench in a divided court might, 
by his casting vote, decide to confer new powers, those 



324 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

withheld, those not granted, upon Congress, and thus 
make the most radical changes in the form and char- 
acter of the government. A majority of this tribunal 
might go further and hold that the validity of certain 
acts of Congress was not to be tested by their consti- 
tutionality. 

In the contingency supposed the judgment ren- 
dered would of course have the force of law in the case 
decided, but the presumption that it must be accepted 
as the equivalent of a constitutional amendment, law- 
fully adopted, would not be long entertained or often 
indulged in. All the rights and powers of the govern- 
ment are set forth and defined in the constitution, but 
those of the states and people are not ; they could not 
be so dealt w'ith. There is a vast province of rights 
and powers belonging to the states and to the people, 
and to them only, that of necessity could not be de- 
fined ; but they are nevertheless clearly referred to and 
expressly recognized by the terms of that instrument. 
And it is to be observed that these rights and powers 
are not referred to in the clauses or sections of the 
text, but in separate articles indicating their trans- 
cendent importance. Even the mode prescribed for 
the execution of these powers is the subject of a sepa- 
rate article. 

The abolition of slavery by constitutional amend- 
ment was an instance of the exercise of these powers 
reserved ; it was an act of sovereign power incapable of 
execution by any other, — an act far beyond the juris- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 325 

diction of any court or congress. These potential func- 
tions of the states and people were not exhausted by a 
single use of them — they yet remain for further and 
future exercise. Therefore, it is of the very essence 
of the principles upon which our Republic is founded 
that all powers were not, and never have been, con- 
ferred upon its government. 

It is uncertain when or upon what subject these re- 
served powers of the states and the people may again 
be exercised. But there is one relation in which all 
loyal citizens stand to them, which is not touched by 
contingency or futurity. It is that this reservation of 
powers shall be rigidly observed and this retention of 
rights shall be absolutely respected. This is our pres- 
ent duty — that of to-day — to take care that no courts, 
nor Congress, nor executive, nor any other authority 
nor combination, shall infringe upon these rights of the 
people or usurp these powers not granted. 

Article nine of the Amendments to the constitution, 
concerning rights retained, article ten, concerning 
powers reserved, are yet in full force. Article five, 
concerning the method of constitutional amendment, 
might, perhaps, be subject to judicial interpretation, 
but the courts have uniformly disclaimed this jurisdic- 
tion; they have held that they were bound therein by 
the action of the political department of the govern- 
ment, and have declined to go beyond or behind that 
action. In view of this constant disclaimer, it is idle 
to assert the pretension that any court can, by virtue of 



o 



26 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 



its own decree, make an amendment to the constitu- 
tion, or rightfully substitute its judgment or decision 
in the room or place of a constitutional amendment. 

The validity of what is called judge-made law has 
been often, perhaps too often, recognized, in dealing 
with ordinary statutes. The application by the courts 
of such a method or rule of interpretation to the funda- 
mental law of the country would be error — an error 
final and irretrievable; but it would be quite intelli- 
gible. It would mean, and of necessity must result in 
the overthrow of the existing constitution and form of 
government by the action of its own servants, officers 
and agents. 

What has been so felicitously called the sober sec- 
ond thought of the people is distinctly favorable 
to our constitutional system, now for more than a 
century established. This is most clearly shown by 
the precaution of its enemies in attacking it. Usurpa- 
tion upon the powers of a free government proceeds 
always by two methods, stealth or force. Its support- 
ers in the beginning are wary and guarded ; they are 
careful to conceal and invariably deny their designs ; 
to avow, would be to defeat them. These innovators 
upon constitutional liberty do not desire a convention 
of the states or any submission of amendments ; they 
would leave the text of the constitution unchanged, 
but also unnoticed and wholly disregarded. 

The leaders of this school insist that their policy is 
new, something unknown, unheard of before, specially 
adapted to a new era of national splendor, glory and 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 327 

power. Nothing is more false than this g-roimdless 
pretension. The way from a repubhc to absolutism is 
an old way, marked out and established by the pre- 
scription of centuries. It is a very old, time-worn, 
often trodden, beaten path, barren, desolate; it is not 
the way of Tell, of Bolivar, of Washington. 

This school of innovators have long ago lost even 
any conception of the government as a public agency. 
They regard the administration as a self-created, self- 
existing and independent organization, which is fully 
justified in assuming any powers, and in denying and 
disparaging any rights to suit its own policy. They 
are quite willing to make an alliance with any party 
that enables them to seize and use for their own ad- 
vantage the plenary control of foreign trade, of inter- 
state commerce, and the domestic markets, thus blot- 
ting out constitutional rule, and establishing in its 
stead the dynasty of commercialism. 

That there will always exist in this country a gov- 
ernment, is obvious ; but that it shall always have a 
free form and system, has been denied from the begin- 
ning by the enemies of the Republic in all parts of the 
world. These enemies have constantly predicted that 
when our population became greatly multiplied and 
our borders largely extended, the Republic would be 
cast aside and its organic law would become a mere 
historic myth or reminiscence. To fulfil this prediction 
the adversaries of constitutional rule are exerting 
every art and effort. 

Nevertheless, something may certainly be known of 



328 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 



the spirit of the age we Hve in. This is not an era of 
either anarchy or absolutism. It is an age of hberty, — 
of Hberty restrained by law, and of law restrained by 
constitutional authority. The wisdom of a people 
charged with the noble duty and destiny of maintain- 
ing free self-government demands the observance of 
both these limitations, and in this observance the Re- 
public will find the elements of its perpetual life and 
progress. 



CHAPTER NINETEEN 

THIRD ELECTION TO THE SENATE GOVERNOR CLAUDE 

MATTHEWS ELECTION OF UNITED STATES SENA- 
TORS BY THE PEOPLE CAMPAIGN OF 1 894 DANIEL 

W. VOORHEES CAMPAIGN OF 1 896 PARTY 

SCHISMS THOSE OF 1 848, 1860 AND 1 896 

When the legislature of 1893 met at the capital, a 
majority in both houses were of the Democratic party; 
I was nominated and elected without opposition in the 
party, as my own successor, for a term of six years. 

The governor of the state at that time, Mr. Claude 
Matthews, was by birth a Kentuckian, comparatively 
a young man in public affairs, a gentleman of schol- 
arly culture, much complaisance of manner and ad- 
dress. The Democracy of the state, like the ancient 
Romans upon a certain occasion, had called him from 
the plow to the high station of chief magistrate ; and 
he, like Cincinnatus, having faithfully discharged the 
duties of his office, returned to the life of the farm. 

There was a great difference between the conduct of 
the joint convention of 1893 and that of 1887. In 
1887, upon the occasion of my second election to the 
Senate, as has already been mentioned, there was a 
scene of much disorder, owing to the slight difference 

329 



330 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

between the numerical strength of the two parties, and 
to the fact that the senate and house were constituted 
of adverse poHtical majorities. Six years later there 
was not the least note of disturbance. The reason was 
obvious; in 1893 both houses of the legislature were 
politically in accord, and there was really no question 
or contest about the result. Yet there can be little 
doubt that, should circumstances like those of 1887 
again recur, there would be a repetition of a similar 
commotion. The evil is in the system or method of 
choosing senators, not in the personnel of the legisla- 
tive body. 

Having three times, as a member of the house of 
representatives of the state, gone through the ordeal 
of a senatorial election, and having thrice passed 
through the same as a candidate and senator elect, it 
is quite natural that my attention should have been en- 
gaged very seriously upon the question of the mode of 
electing senators. 

It would seem upon the first view of the subject that 
a senator of the United States, being a representative 
of the people of the whole state — a public agent and 
servant acting in their behalf, ought to be chosen by 
the direct popular vote. There is no place nor use for 
middlemen in such a transaction. Under such a method 
of choice the senator would become, as he ought to be, 
immediately responsible to the people for his action as 
such ; and at the expiration of his term, if his service 
proved unacceptable to his constituents, they could re- 
move him without the intervention of a legislative 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 331 

body, which has too often in this respect disappointed 
and betrayed the wishes and interests of the voters of 
the state. 

That the framers of the constitution in their time 
should have adopted the present method was reason- 
able enough. In those days the legislature of the states 
was made the general depositary of electoral and ap- 
pointing powers. The legislatures chose the gov- 
ernors, the judges, and all the state officers. This has 
been long since changed, and the franchise has been 
greatly extended, not only as to the number of those 
voting, but to the officers voted for ; the people now elect 
all these officers, and in the line of this reform, and for 
the same reasons, senators should be elected in the 
same manner. It is said that such a change would 
much increase the power of the state conventions, or 
primaries, which is true; but it would also increase 
their caution and responsibility. This difference is to 
be noted. The nomination of a state convention is 
only tentative, that of a legislative caucus is final. 
The nominee of a state convention, even in the most 
certain states, is often beaten; the nomination of a 
legislative caucus is seldom, or never, defeated. 

Even if there were no affirmative reasons therefor, 
the manifest evils accompanying the present method 
should induce this change. Ever since the organiza- 
tion of the Senate of the United States, a great deal 
of the time and labor of that body has been employed 
in hearing and determining contested election cases 
arising out of the action of state legislatures. In the 



332 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

same way the supreme courts of the several states have 
been much engaged and embarrassed by the questions 
relating to legislative apportionment. The judges 
have been thus compelled to take sides in the most ex- 
treme partizan contests, and judgments have been pro- 
nounced often diverse and contradictory in the same 
state and jurisdiction. 

During periods of closely balanced elections, espe- 
cially in the last thirty years, legislatures in the dif- 
ferent states have wholly failed to perform their duty, 
and have finally adjourned, after spending the whole 
term of their session in the vain attempt to elect a sen- 
ator. Again there have been instances, and these are 
becoming more and more frequent, where senators 
have been elected by a doubtful or questionable major- 
ity, in which the result has been so beclouded with 
charges of fraud and bribery, the lees and residuum of 
such a contest, as to become the object of universal 
suspicion and reproach — a condition exceedingly in- 
jurious to senators tluis chosen, to the body of which 
they have become members, and to the influence of the 
states so represented in the national councils. 

For all these mischiefs, equally notorious and incura- 
ble, under the present system, there is one remedy, sim- 
ple, adequate and just. Trust the people to make 
choice directly of their own public servants. Much 
good would be accomplished, much evil would be 
abated by this act of reformation. 

On one of the occasions when I addressed the Senate 
on this subject a certain senator approached me, not of 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 333 

my political faith, who tendered indeed many pleasing 
compliments, yet withheld his approval. He remarked 
that my argument was well supported, "but," said he, 
"it is now too late to amend the constitution of the 
United States — we must run the government as we 
best can to the end of the line." 

One of the chief objects of our constitution and 
form of government is progress — progress by interior 
development, by the inside growth of the Republic in 
the art and science of popular liberty. For this pur- 
pose the provision for amendment is inserted in all our 
constitutional ordinances, both state and federal. 
These provisions do not imply an unchangeable fixity, 
rather a gradual betterment of governmental forms, 
but especially no decadence or retrogression. This in- 
terior development of free forms and polity can not 
be effected by an increase of the army or navy, or of 
the patronage and influence of the chief executive, or 
of national wealth and resources ; it can only be effected 
by an aggrandizement of the citizen, of the unit, the 
voter, and thus of the masses of freemen in our coun- 
try. 

The senatorial franchise here spoken of, the right of 
each voter in his own state to choose the senator, is 
one of these betterments; others might be named; 
others not even mentioned now may be needed. The 
transcendent glory of the Republic is only to be real- 
ized in attaining every height of excellence, and dif- 
fusing among our own people the powers, as well as 
the blessings, of free government — offering to the 



334 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

world a spectacle far exceeding in splendor that of the 
crown and scepter. 

The campaign of 1894 was the last in which Daniel 
W. Voorhees took an active part. This participation 
was necessarily limited by the infirmities of age 
and illness which had come upon him. His more inti- 
mate friends and his physicians remonstrated with 
him upon the part he took therein, but he himself 
thought that duty to the party that had so long hon- 
ored him with their confidence required this. He was 
my colleague in the Senate for ten years — the longest 
joint service in the history of the state. We became ac- 
quainted first in 1852 ; our friendship continued during 
his whole life, unchanged, unbroken. He was a man 
intensely loyal to his friends ; would believe no evil 
of a friend, no matter what untoward circumstances 
might surround him. No man was more thoroughly 
imbued with the social affections of our race, the love 
of home, of country, and of his fellow men of every 
creed, color and condition. He was generous to his 
enemies. Although he had been for many years the 
subject of unmeasured, unmerited contumely, yet when 
even the most violent and unscrupulous of his oppo- 
nents came to him in some necessity, asking his aid, it 
was given in the fullest, kindliest manner. 

Concerning money affairs he was not, as has been 
sometimes said, careless or improvident, yet he was 
free in expenditure, not on his own account, , but for 
others whom, for any cause, he thought entitled to 
share in his beneficence. Naturally of a genial and san- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 335 

guine temperament, he always accounted the good 
things of hope and expectation as being among the 
most certain of his possessions, and let little thought 
of the morrow stint or trammel his liberality. He was 
much attached to animal life, especially to horses. The 
best horses in the country, and particularly those in the 
county of Vigo, so famed for its racers and trotters, 
belonged to him — in a certain sense he owned them all, 
and was proud to own them. He knew their names and 
ages, their blood and lineage, and rejoiced in their vic- 
tories upon the track and turf. Birds he was always 
fond of ; the thrush, the oriole, the robin, he numbered 
among his chosen friends. During the latter days of 
his public service the daily attendance and desk life of 
the Senate, to one of his infirm condition, became very 
wearisome. As soon as the Senate adjourned, if there 
were any space of daylight remaining, or if it were a 
recess or half-holiday, he drove out into the country, 
leaving the pike and taking some by-road into the 
woods. On the whole way he would count the robins 
as he saw them ; when he reached the number thirteen 
there was just a tinge or touch of anxiety until an- 
other had been seen and counted. The grand limit was 
twenty-four, one for every hour of the day. This limit 
was not made often ; when it was made it became the 
subject of real pleasure and congratulation; then we 
turned the horses homeward. 

Mr. Voorhees was somewhat more than six feet in 
heisfht, of a form and frame well matched with this 
stature. The eyes were of a full, deep hazel, darkened 



336 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

or lightened by the changes of feeHng. Amply en- 
dowed as his mind was with acquisitions in every de- 
partment of human knowledge, he had received from 
nature one rare gift, his voice. It was a bass of great 
power and compass. The grain of his voice, what 
the French call timbre, was exceedingly musical. Its 
melody filled the ear, like a perfect vocal chord ; even 
when heard in private conversation, the rhythm lin- 
gered long after the sound had ceased. 

It was this marvelous instrument that gave to his 
speeches in the Senate so distinct an excellence. He 
took a leading part in the current debates of that body, 
though he often spoke upon notice on a particular sub- 
ject. Such an address was prepared with great care 
and much reflection ; when delivered, it was read at his 
desk. Occupants of the gallery turned their faces 
toward the well known seat, members of the House and 
Senate gathered around him. There was in the cham- 
ber a hushed silence, unbroken except by the rustle of 
the page as the leaf was turned, and at the close, often 
the exclamation was heard, "Why did he not go on ; 
why did he stop?" During this delivery he stood in 
his place motionless, sometimes without the least 
change of position ; yet there was such a charm in the 
voice, such an instant transition of its tone into the 
meaning and spirit of the text, that the speech had 
the same effect as if accompanied by the most ani- 
mated gesture of an extemporaneous discourse. The 
speeches thus made were published in pamphlet copies 
for distribution; the demand for them was large and 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 2)2)7 

immediate ; they were circulated in all parts of the 
United States, and to a very considerable extent in 
other countries. Such a document not only contained 
a complete and statesmanlike discussion of the matter 
in hand, but it was furnished and adorned with ex- 
pressions unique and elegant, in the finest form of 
clause and sentence. Any one of the thousands that 
had ever heard Mr. Voorhees, whether he might read 
the speech on the shores of the Atlantic or the Pacific, 
in Europe or Australia, was instantly reminded of the 
presence and person of the orator. In this power of 
reproducing himself upon the printed page he was un- 
rivaled, even among his most eminent associates in the 
public service. No writer or author of that period 
upon any subject had a more numerous or more widely 
distributed audience. A well known and enterprising 
American, not of our state, who had been for some 
time residing abroad, was asked upon his return, land- 
ing in New York, whether he had read, while away, 
the president's message, then recently delivered. He 
answered that he had not, but that he had read the 
speech of Mr. Voorhees, last made in the Senate. 

His manner upon the hustings before a popular as- 
sembly was in marked contrast to his demeanor in the 
Senate chamber ; it was full of animation, of significant 
gesture and movement. To use their own expression, 
Voorhees said many things to the people with the eye 
and the hand. The organ of his voice, powerful and 
majestic, was such that when in full life and vigor he 
made himself heard, in the open air, to an audience of 



338 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ten thousand persons, as well as if he spoke within the 
walls of the most sonorous hall or theater. His lan- 
guage, upon such an occasion, was plain, simple, 
though noble in its simplicity. He was wholly devoid 
of affectation — seemed quite unconscious of his own 
power; the importance of his theme and the regard 
due to his hearers engrossed his attention. He spoke 
as one who did not seek their applause, but was deeply 
concerned for their highest and best interests. Indeed 
I have heard him more than once say to an audience 
that he would rather be heard than applauded. Thus 
admonished, they would for a little while be silent, but 
soon some flash of irony or invective took them captive, 
acclamations followed, and the applause became louder 
and longer than before. His whole attitude and man- 
ner were aggressive. A proposition stated by him was 
in itself an attack. His sentences were all well within 
the province of reason and argument, but they were 
often rapid, brief, abrupt, like the thrust of a weapon 
in assault. His eloquence was of the truest kind, full 
of bold metaphor, vivid turns of thought and expres- 
sion, springing from the force of native genius, inca- 
pable of precise analysis as of description. 

The question has been asked concerning Mr. Voor- 
hees, as well as his grand compatriots, Hendricks and 
McDonald, why their names have not been connected 
with some great measure of national legislation. The 
same inquiry might be made, with much stronger rea- 
son, concerning Colfax, Morton, Pratt, or Lane, since 
they always acted with the majority. No one has ever 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 339 

heard at any time of a Morton act or a Colfax or Lane 
bill in such way as we have learned of the Dingley 
Bill or the Sherman or Morrill acts. Such an inquiry 
is, however, a very imperfect and unfair method of 
taking the measure of statesmanship, or of testing the 
influence and capacity of the conspicuous Indianians 
of either party here spoken of. 

Such a measure is invariably the result of the labors 
of a committee, and usually takes its name from the 
chairman of the committee who reports it to the House 
or Senate, though it is in no case the production merely 
of his own thought or labor. Indeed it is not every 
chairman of a committee that can win for his name the 
prestige of its connection with a historic enactment. 
Such a chairman must be in a position to command the 
approval of the majority in both houses and the subse- 
quent assent of the president. For the last half-century 
rarely has any Democratic member or senator been 
able to command the support of this triple alliance. 
With the exception of one very brief interval the whole 
public life of Mr. Voorhees was spent within the line 
of legislative minority. For many years he had cher- 
ished majorities at home — elsewhere they were absent. 

Among his other great services to the Republic, one 
chief part of his official life and labor was sedulously 
devoted to the improvement of the library of Con- 
gress, and to the building of the edifice in which it 
. is now stored. He lived just long enough to see this 
work of his hands completed, finished in all its pro- 
portions. In that magnificent temple of the arts, in 



340 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

that classic repository of the learning and wisdom of 
mankind, the name and fame of Voorhees will be com- 
memorated as long as the Potomac flows to mingle its 
flood with the waters of the sea. 

The presidential canvass of 1896 was made at a time 
when the country was still grievously embarrassed by 
the effects of the disastrous commercial and monetary 
panic of 1893. The Democratic party in the platform 
of its national convention, among other things, pro- 
posed as a remedy for existing and threatened evils a 
return to the ancient and long established policy of the 
free coinage of both the precious metals, gold and sil- 
ver. The Republican party took like ground as to the 
coinage and use of both metals, but the free coinage of 
silver was made conditional — dependent upon the terms 
of international assent or agreement. Meanwhile they 
resisted any change in the existing law, which had for 
some years strictly limited the coinage of silver. Op- 
posed to any modification of the coinage laws then in 
force— their real position was that of mere negation — 
they needed no other. 

A division of the Democratic organization, led by 
officers of the administration then in power at \\^ash- 
ington, and earnestly seconded by members of the 
party elsewhere, gavd them, long before the election 
took place, the certain assurance of success. A sepa- 
rate convention was called and held, candidates for 
president and vice-president were nominated, and a 
canvass was made against the Democratic party and 
its candidates by dissenters from its own ranks, quite 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 34I 

as persistent as that made by Republicans. This was 
now the third great schism that had occurred in our 
party in my own time; the first in 1848, the second in 
i860, the third in 1896. Though none of these, save 
that of i860, had attained any considerable vote in the 
electoral college, still they produced in each instance 
the same adverse result, — the defeat of the party in 
which the division had taken place. 

The principle of voluntary association, not unknown 
before, has, within the last century, undergone a mar- 
velous development. Somewhat independent of gov- 
ernment as such, it yet controls and directs resources 
as ample and achieves exploits as notable as those of 
any other power. All the lodges, orders and societies, 
and especially all the political parties in our country, 
are founded upon the system of voluntary association. 
It is, as to moral tendency, colorless and neutral ; men 
may unite for a good purpose or combine for a bad one. 
The principle of voluntary association binds only the 
willing. It is true that these associations, formed for 
whatever purpose, usually adopt, for their internal 
guidance, the rule that their action shall be determined 
by the will or opinion of a majority of the member- 
ship ; but this rule is no stronger than that of the asso- 
ciation ; it can not bind the unwilling. 

The member of a political party who, for any reason, 
becomes dissatisfied with the action of its majority, 
may at once abandon it, may join a different party, or 
with others in like sympathy organize a new one. The 
exit is in every case as facile as the entrance. To this 



342 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

laxity of association, a necessary incident of personal 
freedom, is due the increase in the number of parties. 
From the beginning we have generally had a third 
party, but the spectacle of ten or twelve presidential 
candidates, each with his respective following, is a 
somewhat recent political phenomenon. Many writers 
upon the subject of liberal government have affirmed 
that this multiplicity of parties is a sign of decadence 
in the Republic. It has been said that certain classes of 
citizens seem to toy with liberty as a plaything, un- 
mindful of the vigilance needed for its maintenance. 
They divide and subdivide into separate bodies, quite 
earnest and sincere, sometimes formed upon a single 
idea or policy. They belong neither to the majority, 
nor to the minority which disputes with it the actual 
possession of power. Thus without any real voice in 
the conduct of public affairs, they remain in isolation. 
After the defeat of a party by reason of its internal 
dissensions, there has always been much said and writ- 
ten about peace and harmony, about the reunion of its 
dissevered forces and the return of those disaffected 
to their former political affiliations. An impartial ob- 
servation of the consequences of such a rupture, now 
thrice occurring, will show that the complete return of 
dissenters, though it may be possible, is impracticable 
and has never been realized. No doubt many of these 
return, but in every instance a large number have 
declined to retrace their steps and have remained in 
permanent estrangement. Besides this, it is to be con- 
sidered that although a certain proportion of numbers 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 343 

is needed to organize a successful revolt, yet the chief 
injury inflicted upon a party thus rent asunder is not 
the mere loss of its numerical strength but the nature 
and character of the schism itself. 

The open and undisguised publicity of such a revolt, 
the fact that those engaged in it were known to be 
members of the organization which they now seek 
to divide and to overthrow — these features give to the 
opposition an incalculable advantage and reinforce- 
ment, such as to prevent new accessions to the party 
thus divided, either in the way of converts or recruits. 
Moreover, the large and ever increasing number of 
doubtful, neutral and indifferent voters, under these 
circumstances are driven at once to a decision — they 
pass over in a body to the opposition, enhancing its 
majorities. The Democratic party has more than once 
recovered from such a discomfiture, and if the system 
of government by parties is to continue it will, without 
question, again resume its former prestige and position. 
It is not to be presumed, however, that this capacity 
for rehabilitation will always endure. A period may 
arrive of the last schism or when parties founded on 
opinion shall cease. The continued disintegration and 
subdivision of parties has the inevitable tendency to 
create and promote faction — a political organization 
having for its sole object power. The difficulty of self- 
government in a free country has often taken the form 
of inability to maintain an opposition of sufficient 
strength and numbers to curb and control the factious 
spirit of power. Faction discards doctrines, policies 



'344 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

and principles, except those suited to its own purpose. 
It laughs to scorn political opinions and their differ- 
ences, and in the end destroys parties. It may assume 
a party name, but this is only assumption. It has no 
beliefs and therefore no schisms. 

The rule of faction, sometimes called the despotism 
of the majority, is as lawless and absolute as that of the 
autocrat. But it has always been brief. By an induc- 
tion from many centuries of historic instances, it has 
always had the same termination. It ends in the estab- 
lishment of a single ruler, usually one who controls the 
army, an army that obeys the orders of this leader 
rather than the constitution and laws of the country. 

To prevent this tendency toward faction the people 
in a republic, almost instinctively, make from time to 
time a change in the administration. The restoration 
of the Democratic party will be due somewhat to this 
influence ; it will be in some degree aided by the return 
of its own dissenters, 3^et more by a course of events 
favorable to such resumption, due to the errors and 
maladministration of the party which has acquired 
place and power under such conditions. For the effects 
of a schism during the presidential canvass are by no 
means confined to the party injured thereby; they are 
quite as evident and as easily discernible in the suc- 
cessful party. 

A great schism in the Church is aligned sharply upon 
some divergence of faith or opinion, and commends 
even the sacrifice of life itself rather than the surrender 
of what may be regarded as the true faith. Having no 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 345 

external object upon which its force may be expended, 
it vitaHzes the reign and rule of belief. But schism in 
a large political organization, though springing from 
the same causes, is not accompanied by the same effects. 
It finds readily an exterior object for the exertion of 
its force in depriving its former associates of power 
and in conferring it upon others. It thus weakens and 
destroys the rule and influence of opinion, and the ma- 
jority thus placed in power, massed mechanically to- 
gether by reason of these prior dissensions, assumes the 
functions of government without reference to any par- 
ticular policy. Public opinion, the most legitimate, as 
it should be the most potent agency in free government, 
is bewildered and overshadowed by the mere count of 
numbers of no political meaning. 

When the two principal political parties in the coun- 
try, unbroken and undivided, in advance of a presi- 
dential election have made a canvass throughout the 
Union upon those questions of national policy that di- 
vide them, and the people have by ballot expressed their 
choice and preference, the result is a verdict, a deliber- 
ate judgment, in favor of the majority then appearing; 
and it constitutes an instruction, a command to the in- 
coming administration not to be disregarded, touching 
its course of action. But when one of the two parties 
in such a contest has been beaten by its internal dissen- 
sions, there is no such verdict or judgment; the only 
thing decided in such a case is the truth of the adage 
that a house divided against itself can not stand. 

In such a campaign differences of opinion, discus- 



346 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

sion or reasoning have little scope, very slight effect. 
Events avail more than argument. By far the most 
conspicuous event in such a canvass is the schism. It 
has in every instance controlled all other considera- 
tions. No party thus divided by an organized revolt 
within its own lines has ever succeeded in a presiden- 
tial canvass. The party in such condition is beaten, not 
so much because either of its branches may be right or 
wrong, as because it is divided. That a party thus di- 
vided against itself must be in error and unworthy of 
public confidence is a conclusion quite illogical ; but 
human government is not yet classed among the exact 
sciences, and logic alone has little place in the solution 
of political problems, even those of the most import- 
ance. 

The administration of a party, successful by reason 
of a division among its opponents, acquires power like 
any other, under the obligation to observe our ancient 
precedents and to abide by constitutional limita- 
tions; yet its particular situation may make the per- 
formance of these duties very difficult. 

As members of the cabinet and of an all-controlling 
majority in both houses of Congress, its leaders are 
practically in the possession of unlimited power, which 
they mistake for unlimited authority. At the same time 
they are the chieftains of an immense political volun- 
tary association whose constituencies give them bound- 
less credence and credit, for the fortunate result of cam- 
paigns in which success could not by any possibility 
have been missed, and for victories not achieved but 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 347 

thrust upon them. This class of statesmen easily flat- 
ter themselves that the party in opposition is hopelessly 
divided, crushed and ruined beyond recovery. They 
see daily around them the evidence that no effective 
resistance can be made to any legislative or executive 
course of action which they may approve; and since 
there is no actual check or curb upon their power, they 
assume that there ought to be no other restrictions upon 
its exercise. W^ithout any fixed principles, with little 
or no regard for constitutional precedents, unwilling 
to adopt a course of conduct commended only by con- 
science and duty, they wander forth in quest of inno- 
vations. Impatient of the past, eager to grasp the most 
doubtful and questionable powers, such an administra- 
tion is ominously marked by the promiscuous and dis- 
tempered character of the elements to which it owes its 
origin. 

It is not for the interest of the Republic that this 
condition should arise, still less that it should continue. 



CHAPTER TWENTY 

IN THE SENATE, 1896-1898 THE REPUBLICS OF CUBA 

AND BRAZIL FOREIGN RELATIONS CUSHMAN K. 

DAVIS THE EUROPEAN FAMILY COMPACT THE 

AMERICAN COMPACT ITALY AND THE LATIN RACES 

ROBERT DALE OWEN THE DOCTRINE OF MONROE 

It was my fortune to serve some length of time with 
the committee upon foreign relations, and for a 
while my best efforts and advocacy were made in be- 
half of two measures — the recognition of the Republic 
of Brazil and of the Republic of Cuba. Both these 
acts have been accomplished. In the case of Brazil 
recognition was accorded during the term of President 
Harrison ; in the case of Cuba it was long delayed, 
and was even then imperfect, somewhat maimed in the 
performance. 

For ordinary purposes, quite satisfactory informa- 
tion touching our relations with foreign countries may 
be gathered from a perusal of the diplomatic corre- 
spondence and the volume of treaties and conventions 
published by the state department. Yet when mem- 
bers of the standing committee examine the actual text 
of a treaty submitted for rejection or approval, infor- 
mation of a more accurate and intimate character is 

348 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 349 

needed. Such an examination requires some knowl- 
edge of the practical working of former treaties, of the 
probable effect of the new treaty upon the people of 
both countries, some consideration of the motives and 
purposes of both parties thereto, and also of the pos- 
sible action of other governments, not parties, which 
may be taken in consecjuence thereof. So that treaties 
upon such subjects as international boundaries, immi- 
gration, extradition, and many others, may demand a 
survey of the whole field of diplomatic intercourse and 
international relations. 

Mr. Cushman K. Davis, late a senator from Minne- 
sota, was for many years chairman of our committee 
and had every qualification for that position. He was 
a close and diligent student of the law of nations, well 
versed in the entire course of our diplomatic history, 
and W'ith the current and existing relations between 
the different members of the international household. 

Though a great lover of books, he did not overesti- 
mate their value. Few^ men were more learned, yet he 
did not think that learning of any extent or character 
was to be compared with action — the actual perform- 
ance of duty either in public or private life. In de- 
bate he was an adept ; his ability as a disputant had 
been tested in the great parliamentary battles of the 
Harrison administration. 

His powers were revealed at a time when the oppos- 
ing parties in the Senate were nearly equal and both 
attended in full force ; when colloquy and discussion 
were heated and exciting and results were closely 



350 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

watched and guarded ; when pairs were declared off 
and leave of absence was seldom asked and never 
granted; when the legislative day lasted more than 
half the week, senators took their meals in the cloak- 
room, and the aged and infirm slept upon the lounges ; 
and when the winter sun in the earliest hour of the 
morning shone into the chamber upon the wan faces 
of those who had kept their seats during the all-night 
sessions, either to preserve a quorum or to demand a 
call of the House in its absence. He was what misfht 
be called a natural diplomatist of the purest and best 
type, — in manner calm and considerate, very courte- 
ous in parley or conference. No one was more con- 
versant -with treaty terms and phrases or more felic- 
itous in the use of them. He pared down the differ- 
ences between conflicting propositions to their precise 
dimensions, showed those parts of a protocol or pend- 
ing treaty that should be approved, those that should 
be disallowed, and those that might properly be made 
the subject of further negotiation. In the Senate his 
exposition of sections and clauses and of the whole 
body of the instrument under consideration was lucid, 
scholarly and eloquent. He could even make statistics 
talk in the plainest, simplest style. Many of his best 
speeches were delivered in executive session; they 
were replete with wise and useful reflections concern- 
ing our foreign policy. 

His first task in considering the text of a treaty or 
convention was to scrutinize it section by section to as- 
certain whether it contained any provision not in ac- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 35 1 

cordance with the constitution. Neither the honor nor 
dignit}^ of the United States was, as he thought, com- 
promised, by thus declaring to other nations that this 
was not a government of unHmited powers, and that 
its diplomatic action was subject, like that of its legis- 
lative department, to the restrictions and limitations 
prescribed by the supreme law. No intimation nor re- 
monstrance, even from the highest source, ever af- 
fected his action or opinion on this subject. 

He had been a soldier of the Union, and was now a 
senator ; but whether soldier or senator, he was also a 
citizen loyal to constitutional obligations. His faith 
in the mission of the Republic, the Republic as such. 
pure and free from the taint of alien elements or 
emendations, was steadfast and immovable. 

Davis was an American for all time — not merely 
for the present and future, for the past also. His love 
of country began with Lexington and Concord. He 
loved the United States of Washington, of Jefferson 
and of Hamilton, the land of Jackson, Webster and 
Clay, no less than that of Lincoln, Douglas and Sew- 
ard. This land of old, with its magnificent bead-roll 
of rulers and statesmen, was the object both of his 
reverence and affection. This country of a hundred 
years ago, with its people, its laws, its government, 
was to him more of a reality than the things of to-day 
or yesterday are to most men. He lived and moved 
in it as actually as in the later period, when he himself 
had so large and honorable participation in the labors 
of the public service. He was loath to break ranks with 



352 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

those of the ilhistrious procession who had gone be- 
fore, was very anxious that the form and pressure of 
their time, that the touch of their Hngering presence, 
should still be felt in the guidance of our national 
career. 

These latter days of attempted change and transi- 
tion he deprecated, not despairing of the future, but 
as a patriot sternly zealous for his country's fame in 
one as in another era of its history. 

The time,' from the date of our Declaration of In- 
dependence to the close of the last century, has been 
marked by a large expansion of the polity of govern- 
ment by the people. One grand division of the earth. 
South America, has been almost filled with republics. 
France has discarded hereditary rule, monarchies have 
become limited, and even imperial power has been 
somewhat ameliorated in its actual administration. 

What has much retarded this liberal development, 
and may even prevent its further action, is the Family 
Compact among European sovereigns — an extensive 
system of domestic alliances, made with the design of 
providing for mankind a perpetual succession of rulers 
born such, sprung from nearly related blood and 
lineage. 

This far-reaching kinship of reigning houses, sup- 
ported by the wealth and aristocracy of the countries 
included in it, and thus far tolerated by their people, 
rests mainly for its support upon the standing armies 
of the different nations. These vast forces are the per- 
petual witnesses of international jealousy, thus taken 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 353 

advantage of by the ruling classes and allowed free 
play, but not to the extent of affecting the system of 
hereditary rule, even in war waged against a member 
of this compact. These armies drafted from the sub- 
ject population, officered by the aristocracy, are quite 
available in war against a foreign enemy, and equally 
efficient in peace to maintain the sovereign and his 
counselors in their denial of self-government to the 
people. 

\A'ere it either possible or desirable to remodel our 
constitution so as to grant to its chief executive abso- 
lute power upon certain subjects, or in certain parts of 
the country belonging to the United States, the pres- 
ident would yet be barred from entering the closed 
circle of the royal Family Compact. The president is 
not a hereditary ruler; his office is elective, and his 
term, like his power, is limited. Besides this, the pres- 
ident of our Republic is not the equal of the kings and 
monarchs of the Old World ; he is immeasurably their 
superior. The chosen ruler of a free people occupies a 
rank and position infinitely above that of a prince, 
who, owing to the accident of birth, without reference 
to his merits or capacity, is, to use the courtly corona- 
tion phrase, seated upon the throne of his ancestors. 

The very existence of such a ruler as the president 
is a constant reminder to those who wear a crown of 
the sovereignty which, without right, they have as- 
sumed. 

The first president of our Republic, so often and so 
justly called the Father of his Country, looked calmly 



354 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

down from his lofty station upon the thrones and 
principalities of Europe, and lived with them upon 
terms of amity ; but he clasped not hands with royalty, 
made no obeisance to its pomp or pride, and bowed to 
no earthly power save the sovereignty of the people. 

That amicable relations of commerce and exchange 
have obtained, and may yet continue between these two 
forms of polity, does not remove the antipathy be- 
tween dynastic rule and free popular government ; this 
antipathy is natural, lasting and irreconcilable. 

The assertion so often made that the monarchies and 
empires of the world are effete, worn out and ex- 
hausted, is not well founded touching those of Europe. 
They have never been more active and aggressive than 
at present; their rulers have never been served better 
than to-day. They are surrounded by wise and able 
cabinets, by skilful civil and military leaders, and by a 
large body of statesmen and diplomatists, who are at- 
tached to the reigning prince and his household, yet 
more to the throne, as a symbol of the system upon 
which depend their own rank, riches and authority. 

They have inaugurated a policy, now long in use, 
of extending their dominion to include therein the 
greater part of the eastern hemisphere, thus making 
large and distant regions tributary dependencies of 
European thrones ; they may entertain both the design 
and desire to add certain parts of Central or South 
America to their dominion. 

One continent of the eastern hemisphere has quite 
recently been deliberately partitioned, by metes and 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 355 

bounds, and these sul)divisions have been severally al- 
lotted to and taken possession of by the crowned rulers 
of Europe as territorial accessions. The millions of 
the African race, thus subjected to this gigantic spolia- 
tion, may serve an apprenticeship to the arts of civiliza- 
tion and regal oppression for many centuries. 

The career of Russian and British aggression in 
Asia, a part of the same policy, has been a more grad- 
ual process, due to the prolonged resistance of the 
Asiatic races against European domination — a domi- 
nation sometimes urged as the means of expanding 
the area of Christian education and enlightenment, — 
though we know that the great evangelists of the first 
century used but one weapon, the Sword of the Spirit. 

The course of armed aggression in Asia has been 
thus far attended by no collision between the military 
forces of the invading powers in that cpiarter. This is 
attributable to the practice of prudential forbearance, 
one of the controlling stipulations of the unwritten 
Family Compact. Prudential forbearance has been very 
manifest in shaping the map of Europe. The minor 
kingdoms, such as those of Greece, Belgium and the 
Netherlands, exist by this sort of sufferance. Their 
rulers are all scions and kindred of the reigning fami- 
lies composing the Compact. All this adds to the im- 
posing solidarity of that royal league, which declares 
to peoples round it that dynastic rule must be the law 
of Europe, and of the uttermost parts of the earth that 
they can reduce to submission. 

In the partition of Africa, Great Britain assenting, 



35^ SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

and contented with what she already had, took a 
smaller share. This left larger portions to the other 
powers. — to the emperor of Germany a territory 
greater in extent, it is said, than that of his empire at 
home. Russia also forbore taking any portion, doubt- 
less with the tacit understanding that it was not to be 
disturbed in its own sphere of aggression. 

This was also in accordance with the settled policy 
of the House of Romanoff, which, even before the ces- 
sion of Alaska to the United States, had abandoned the 
idea of a dominion of widely separated possessions, 
had preferred the continuous annexation of contiguous 
territory, and had discarded the policy of the Empire 
Afloat. Not that Russia disparages the navy ; it is still 
used as it has always been, in border warfare — the bor- 
der between sea and land. Its power, like that of its 
own element, is bounded by the shore, limited to the 
capture of harbors and seaports, while the sovereignty 
and pdssession of the inland country is unchanged. 
For the reason that the actual work of invasion and 
subjugation must be done by the infantry, or cavalry, 
the army of a million men when needed has been the 
right hand of the czar in the long course of conquest 
already made. In that of the future it is predicted 
that the boundaries of the empire will be washed by the 
waters of the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean, as 
they are now by the waters of the Arctic, the Baltic and 
the Pacific. 

The Sick Men of the two Orients, the one at Pe- 
king, the other at Constantinople, have enjoyed those 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 357 

proverbial threatened, 3^et long lives, due perhaps to 
the differences of those waiting for their demise, con- 
cerning the expected distribution of the estate of the 
decedents. 

Russia, by its great strength and resources, the en- 
during and absolute nature of its central authority, and 
especially by reason of its immediate contiguity with 
China, now in a long line of territory adjoining its 
boundary, is a normal natural oriental power of the 
first magnitude. 

Japan, for the aptitude of its people in arts and arms 
and notably its geographical proximity to China, is a 
power of the same kind. These two powers are chiefly 
interested in the fortunes of the Chinese Empire. Our 
commercial interests would not be prejudiced by the 
expansion of either, as they might be by our discrim- 
ination or preference. 

In the Crimean War of fifty years ago we made, and 
desired to make, no figure. There is no reason of in- 
ternational law or policy for our adoption of any dif- 
ferent course in the wars of the farther Orient. We are 
on terms of amity at least with both the empires of 
Turkey and China, and are under no obligations to 
preserve the integrity of either, even if it were threat- 
ened. Their enemies are not ours, and there is no 
necessity that they should become sucli. It is evident, 
quite as certain as anything can be within the area of 
such contingencies, that when these wars of partition 
shall have been waged and ended, when the new bound- 
ary lines are to be marked and delimited, our trade and 



358 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

Other interests will be more largely favored both by 
the victors and the vanquished, than if we had been ac- 
tive participants in the strife. With Japan we have al- 
ways been upon friendly terms and have enjoyed there 
the largest tolerance in trade, education, faith and 
worship. The gift, by Russia, to us of Alaska, for it 
was substantially a gift; the great naval demonstra- 
tions made in our behalf during the Civil War, the ex- 
pense of which was quite as much as the after-paid 
purchase-money, — may not have been made for imme- 
diate effect only, but also to enable the czar in the fu- 
ture to say, and to say with truth : Russia was adverse 
to secession and dismemberment; it favored the pres- 
ervation of the Union of the states and ceded a vast 
extent of its own territory to enlarge the area of the 
Republic ; why should the Republic oppose the addition 
of further provinces to the Empire? 

We have been now a long time in the farther Orient, 
ever since the commencement of the last century, even 
before. Our people there have meanwhile prosecuted 
enterprises of great moment, relating both to religion 
and commerce. Our government has furnished con- 
stant and effective protection to missionaries, mer- 
chants and other American residents in that country. 

Durinof this time we have witnessed rebellions in 
China, wars between China and the western powers, 
and between China and the eastern powers, but we have 
had no participation in these, and have held aloof, for 
the most part, in the attitude of spectators, — the posi- 
tion of friendly neutrality. Our statesmen and diplo- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 359 

matists of the last century were often tempted to aban- 
don this position, but they declined to do so. They thus 
retained the friendship of Japan and Russia, without 
losing that of China, and made protective intervention 
in behalf of our own interests and people more helpful 
and efficient. 

It has been conjectured that the people and govern- 
ment of the United States have been recently touched 
at least with the desire to change this policy. As a re- 
sult of the war with Spain we have acquired the Philip- 
pines ; we have in these islands of the Orient extin- 
guished Spanish sovereignty, and, after an armed and 
somewhat prolonged resistance by the native inhabi- 
tants, we have established our own. Our occupancy 
and governmental administration in the Philippines in- 
volve grave and serious questions in themselves, and 
should not be further complicated by the proposition 
that these islands must be used as a strategic vantage- 
ground, from which we may take part with other pow- 
ers in future campaigns for the spoliation and conquest 
of China or of other countries yet held by the natives 
of the Asiatic continent. It is easy to say that we 
should lose, by such a course, that position heretofore 
of real worth and value to us, as arbitrators and media- 
tors in the complicated strife of the Orient. We should 
lose also, or impair our prestige as the chief of the 
world's republics. It may be said these statements are 
homilies— homilies dry and barren, "mere cankers of 
a long peace and a quiet world." 

Yet it is to be noted that European military cam- 



360 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

paigns in Asia from the time of Alexander the Great 
to the present, whether they have been fought with the 
spear and javehn or with the Maxim and the Jorgen- 
sen, have had for the people of Asia but one result — a 
change of masters. There has been no campaign in 
that quarter of the world for the freedom and indepen- 
dence of the people, or for popular government in any 
form, in which we might rightfully engage. Respect- 
ing the interests of trade, we have not yet made it an 
imperative duty or policy that the blood of our bravest 
shall be shed abroad to enrich those remaining at home. 

We have heretofore made and still are making gains 
in trading with the far East. These gains have been 
due to the excellence of our commodities, the facility 
of our exchanges, the speed and safety of our maritime 
transportation. These profits have been willingly paid ; 
they are unstained by blood, untainted by violence ; 
they are not like the taxes and tribute wrung from the 
peasantry of India and other subject provinces of Euro- 
pean powers in Asia. 

It is urged in support of our joinder in the spoliation 
of continental Asiatic territory, that a marvelous 
change of direction in the world's commerce is at 
hand ; that the Atlantic is to become a mere maritime 
waste, and the Pacific is to be the great pathway of ex- 
change and trafSc. 

Suppose that these predictions were fulfilled, that 
New York and London had ceased to be metropolitan 
marts of the nations, that the Thames and the Hudson 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 361 

had become only resorts for excursion steamers and 
pleasure yachts, and that the great floating lines of 
steam and sail had betaken themselves to the farther 
East; what nation is better prepared, more ready for 
such a transformation than our own? Ours is now a 
very long line of Pacific coast within navigable limits ; 
we have the Golden Horn, the harbor of the Columbia 
at Portland, Tacoma and Seattle on Puget Sound, 
waters in which the trade fleets of the whole world 
have the utmost facility of arrival and departure, or 
may ride at anchor in undisturbed security. 

The money value of the Pacific trade, like that of 
any other international commerce, depends upon the 
exchange of commodities between the two sides of this 
great ocean. Unity of possession and interest on one 
side would be far more advantageous than a small 
isolated possession of the other side, girt about by dif- 
ferent races and nationalities. Besides this, if the trade 
crusade is to be the primary article of our national 
faith and duty, and all other considerations are to yield 
thereto, the way is open therefor. We might extend 
our Pacific coast line by the subjugation and assimila- 
tion of the whole country south as far as the Isthmus 
or beyond it. No power could prevent this. We should 
have overwhelming military and naval force and con- 
tiguity on our side, as Russia has in its Asiatic cam- 
paign. If we prefer more insular possessions we could 
in a very brief campaign seize and take possession of 
the whole archipelago of the West Indies, establish its 



362 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

provincial capital in Porto Rico, and thus provide a 
group of insular posts which, like sentinels, should 
watch and guard the entrance of the Isthmian Canal. 

In the meanwhile our position in the Philippines is 
in every respect one of test and trial. It will, as it has 
already, become the subject of notice and most guarded 
inspection by the eastern and western powers, as well 
as by the numerous people that inhabit the different 
countries of Asia. Our public conduct toward the 
Philippine native races should be that of the utmost 
good faith, the kindliest consideration of their rights, 
made known by an open avowal of this policy and by 
action in accordance with it, even if this requires sub- 
stantial changes in our relations toward them. Of this, 
our conduct, the multitudes of the Orient will be wit- 
nesses ; and although these multitudes are without vote 
or voice in the government under which they reside, 
they have, in the affairs of trade and of the market, 
the school, the form of faith and worship in which 
we are interested, a power almost omnipotent, which 
we can profitably neither offend nor disdain. These 
multitudes of Asiatic races, under various religions, 
governments and nationalities, are inferior to our own 
people in force or vigor, but in subtlety of thought, 
in the real discernment of motives, they are not at 
all inferior. They may be disappointed, they will 
not be deceived, by our action. 

We have heretofore made large accessions to our 
national domain, — those of the Northwestern Terri- 
tory, of the Louisiana Purchase. California and New 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 363 

Mexico, without subsequent or consequential embar- 
rassment. In acquiring our recent insular possessions 
we have incurred an embarrassment before unknown, 
the character of which may not yet be fully realized. 

When the condition called entente cordiale obtains 
between two leading powers, it becomes the subject of 
much greater interest than an ordinary treaty or inter- 
national convention. It is not made in writing, it is 
not to be found in such documents as the president's 
message or the king's speech from the throne. It is 
evidenced by the acts and conduct toward each other 
of the two governments interested therein. 

This cordial understanding between Great Britain 
and the United States was immediately countered by a 
similar arrangement between the French Republic and 
Russia. Thus the two leading republics of the world 
are placed at variance with each other, one being 
closely allied with the most powerful empire, the other 
with the greatest monarchy of Europe. 

It is quite apparent to all men that under these cir- 
cumstances the whole system of popular free govern- 
ment has been for the present depressed and obscured, 
sacrificed to the specious eclat of a needless grand 
alliance. As between the two republics in this trans- 
action the initiative' was ours, — an initiative indicating 
to foreign eyes at least some sort of moral deference 
to the historic prestige of the British monarchy. That 
England should remain for ever undisturbed in the 
West Indies and in the vast and fertile regions of 
Honduras and Guiana, in order that we might rule in 



364 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the Philippines, was certainly a bargain as harsh as it 
was unnecessary. We could have taken and held 
Porto Rico and the Philippines, as we acquired our 
other territorial possessions, of far greater extent and 
value, without the slightest connection of any kind 
with Great Britain — as well without, as with the cor- 
dial understanding. Without entertaining on our part 
any present ill will against England, with no disturb- 
ance of the ordinary amicable relations now for some 
time existing betwixt the two countries, it may yet be 
suggested that there are many degrees of difference 
between the relations incident even to a long and pleas- 
ant friendship, and those resembling a matrimonial 
alliance. 

Such a close coalition, made at a juncture of the 
world's progress, when the two systems of dynastic 
rule and free self-government were at least approach- 
ing somewhat of an ecjuilibrium, is in every aspect 
inauspicious to our political faith. 

In the partition of Africa we had no voice nor part ; 
in the spoliation of Asia we have hitherto had no part 
nor lot ; we desired none in either. Such a course was 
commended by our sentiments of right and justice, 
and by the further consideration of those in control 
of our foreign relations, that we had duties and inter- 
ests nearer home, of yet greater moment, which might 
be inconsistent with such participation. Affairs are 
now approaching a season of later maturity. Without 
question we might at once relieve the tension of politi- 
cal conditions in the Orient merely by our inaction, 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 365 

and aggrandize our commercial interests in that 
quarter far beyond the risk or reach of competition. 
By no surrender, by only a partial abandonment of the 
Monroe policy, we should win the immediate favor of 
the powers of the Family Compact, and the increased 
good will of Russia and Japan. The open door — the 
gate, the entire coast, every sphere of influence would 
be flung wide to welcome us. For such a substantial 
measure of diversion and relief to the complicated 
troubles and turmoils of Asiatic policy as our renun- 
ciation of the right of intervention, — thus throwing 
open the regions of South and Central America to 
colonization by the European powers, and permitting 
the fleets and armies of those dynasties to conc|uer and 
hold possession of some of the American republics, — 
no compensation on their part would be lacking. Still 
it is well to consider, on our part, what adequate rec- 
ompense could be made to us for the desertion of the 
cause of liberty in the western hemisphere, for this 
departure from the ancient paths of our fathers and 
the traditional policy of the great Republic. 

No one need be misled by the apparent apathy or in- 
difference of the great powers. The Monroe doctrine, 
whether we do or forbear, is a central feature of inter- 
national policies in this age. Applicable in its terms 
to but one hemisphere, it may involve the fortunes of 
both. 

We can not prevent European domination in Asia 
and Africa. We can do a much better thing than to 
share in its course. We can not release the mvriads of 



o 



66 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 



those subject people from their poHtical servitude, but 
we can give to them and their oppressors a noble and 
ever-enduring exemplar of freedom in our own half 
or hemisphere of the globe ; in the words of Bancroft, 
we may intrench liberty in a continent. 

In this course we adhere to our former action; we 
give aid and comfort, if needed, to the republics of 
South America, and at the same time pursue a line of 
conduct best calculated to secure our own territorial 
possessions, old and new, from attack or aggression 
by foreign powers. 

Any renunciation of our former policy would seri- 
ously impair our primacy in the American Compact, 
which had for its object the establishment and promo- 
tion of a system of free republics in the New World — 
a Compact not written, but affirmed now by many acts 
and deeds on our part greater than words. The 
scheme or theory of this Compact is found in the Mon- 
roe doctrine; action in accordance with it has often 
been approved by Congress ; the doctrine or policy it- 
self has never been defined by resolution or law. Sen- 
ator Davis of Minnesota, who had given long and 
patient study to this question, who had gone through 
the annals of Congress and the state department, and 
noted every instance in which it had been the subject of 
debate or correspondence, stated that there had been no 
definition of it, and that Congress had deliberately and 
uniformly declined to define it. He himself concluded 
that the doctrine of Monroe, like that of fraud in the 
courts or of the entente cordiale in diplomacy, was in- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 367 

capable of precise definition, and that our action in its 
behalf must depend upon the particular circumstances 
of each case when it occurred. Diplomats and cabinets 
may need an exposition of this policy; the people of 
this Republic do not want and have not waited for a 
definition. 

AVhen, just after the close of our 'Civil War, the 
Emperor Louis Napoleon took military possession 
of Mexico and attempted to establish there a for- 
eign ruler and an imperial rule, there were half a 
million of veterans of the war for the Union who 
would have taken arms again to expel these invaders ; 
but upon our official intimation, his forces were with- 
drawn and the people of that country, released from 
this incumbrance, soon reestablished their republican 
form of government. 

In encountering the difficulties incident to the main- 
tenance of this policy, we shall never stand alone ; we 
shall always have the active aid and sympathy of the 
republic which is attacked. Even if all the leading 
powers of Europe were to combine in such an armed 
invasion, all the free powers of America would unite 
with us to repel it, and, besides this, we should have the 
assistance of that ancient and unsubsidized ally of 
freedom in the west, the Atlantic, with its three thous- 
and miles of waters severing these assailants from the 
base of their supplies and reinforcements. Such a con- 
test, in such a cause, must be successful. 

It should be remembered also that the American 
intercontinental railway, already well advanced, will. 



368 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

like the Isthmian Canal, sooner or later be completed. 
It will traverse the Isthmus, and will extend beyond to 
those countries bordering upon the heart of the Andes. 
This will afford facilities for the transportation of 
troops and munitions of war, and along its whole line 
will appear stations, towns and cities, centers of trade 
and supplies wholly inland, little affected by naval 
incursions on the coast, even should these occur. 

A recent joint armed expedition by two of the chief 
powers of Europe attacked one of these South Ameri- 
can republics, destroyed some of its fortifications, 
killed some of its people, laid waste its commerce, and 
for a few days threatened to imperil the peace of the 
world. The initiatives of this incursion were well 
known at Washington. The beginnings, in such an 
affair, require to be closely questioned and cross-ex- 
amined, so that the course and end of it may be clearly 
foreseen and determined. This expedition was un- 
dertaken, as alleged, to enforce the collection of claims 
for debt or damages made by the two powers against 
the republic. Certainly such claims might be more 
equitably adjusted by the international court, by medi- 
ation or arbitration, than by the action of any country 
as claimant, judge and executioner in its own behalf. 
An ex parte claim of one country against another, 
whether public or private, is not a just cause of war. 
Such a ruling would make war the perpetual condi- 
tion of mankind. The non-payment of a debt ac- 
knowledged, or the absolute refusal to settle or adjust 
a claim by negotiation or the other means known to 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 369 

the international code, may be a legal or lawful cause 
of war, but it is no more. And the distinction is to 
be noted. War waged upon such legal cause as the 
collection of a debt or claim is limited to that cause 
and must end when payment is made or secured. Nor 
are the causes of war interchangeable, as when Na- 
poleon first sent his army into Mexico, professedly to 
collect a debt, but retained it there afterward for a very 
different purpose. 

The use of force in the prosecution of a legal cause 
of war is not oppression ; but the premature, wanton, 
or unnecessary use of force in such case is oppression. 

Blockade enforced is war; such a war measure 
ought always to follow, never to precede, the use of 
the ordinary means of settling and adjusting the 
claims of the creditor against the debtor nation. These 
military and naval collection excursions have often 
been premature, unnecessary, and have been perhaps 
too often condoned. 

Many of our citizens would rejoice to see some sort 
of revival of the old spirit of American diplomacy. 
Such a letter as that of Webster to Hulseman, or that 
of Seward to the minister of Eouis Napoleon, would 
not and could not now be written. These missives were 
couched in terms of the utmost courtesy, of a tone inde- 
pendent, self-reliant; they were polished but imperative 
reproofs and rebukes given by the representatives of a 
free and sovereign people to the representatives of the 
emperors of France and of Austria. Such letters mark 
grand epochs in our national life — they are worth 



370 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

more than battles won or cities taken. A great Repub- 
lican once wrote: Peace hath its victories no less 
renowned than war. 

These armed expeditions on behalf of creditors, un- 
less made as a last resort after all other methods of 
settlement have failed, ought to cease. Their evil 
consequences have been too often felt to be much 
longer forborne. To say nothing of ulterior objects 
many times attempted by them, they have the effect 
of exploiting the display of monarchical power in 
American waters, of disparaging and humiliating our 
neighboring republics thus assailed. Their recurrence 
has a tendency to suggest a sentiment more offensive 
than mere indifference toward ourselves. These dis- 
quieting and irritating effects are not prevented or 
neutralized by diplomatic assurances. Such assurances 
may disclose little of real intentions ; words belied by 
acts are no legal tender save in Utopia. 

Perhaps, after all, these recent demonstrations were 
made as a test of American sentiment, for it is said 
sometimes, when the American Compact is spoken of, 
that the southern republics are hardly worthy of our 
sympathy or assistance; that they are inhabited mostly 
by people of the Latin races, the decendants of colonists 
from Spain, Portugal, France and Italy — races, as it is 
said, incapable of self-government. The whole coun- 
try south of the Rio Grande is sometimes called Latin 
America, and it is asserted that this country has been 
and is the scene of constant civil wars, of revolutions 
and counter-revolutions, of frequent and violent com- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 37I 

motions. But this statement is much exaggerated. In 
the last thirty years there has been a large improvement 
in these conditions. 

The greater republics of Latin America, like Mexi- 
co, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and others, have within 
that period made good progress toward peace, unity 
and a stable system of administration. The popula- 
tion of those countries has given in many cases, such 
as those of Iturbide and Balmaceda, evidence of its 
steadfast devotion to the principles of free govern- 
ment. The people of Cuba, unaided, waged a war for 
independence for ten years against the Spanish mon- 
archy. Indeed had it not been for the Cuban revolu- 
tion the whole series of events that has so much occu- 
pied our own attention in late years would never have 
happened; Cuba and Porto Rico would still be Span- 
ish provinces. 

It should not be forgotten that the two greatest 
advances made by the system of free popular rule 
have been accomplished within the last century by peo- 
ple of the Latin race — the overthrow of the empire in 
Brazil and of both the monarchy and empire in France. 

One hundred and fifty years ago the most powerful 
member of the European Family Compact was the 
House of Bourbon, reigning in France, but holding 
a wide dominion elsewhere in the Old and New World. 
In 1750, it would have been regarded quite as im- 
probable that the Bourbons should lose their crown 
and throne as that the Hapsburgs or the Hohen- 
zollerns should cease to reign in Germany and 



'}^']2 SKETCHES OF AIY OWN TIMES 

Austria. Indiana at that time was a part of the ex- 
tensive possessions of the House of Bourbon in North 
America. We may fehcitate these our ancient rulers 
upon one act of historic renown. It was a long-de- 
scended king of this royal house who gave us the most 
material and opportune assistance in the war for inde- 
pendence; and his subjects, though nominally under 
Great Britain at the time, completed the work of the 
Revolution in rendering willing aid and support to the 
great American who conquered for his country the 
Northwestern Territory. 

A more recent ruler of France gave to our interests 
very timely and favorable consideration. Napoleon 
is often said to have changed the map of Europe, but 
his largest and most permanent work of this character 
is shown in the map of North America. In 1800 
Bonaparte, then first consul, all-powerful in the coun- 
cils of Madrid, even before he seated his brother on 
the Spanish throne, procured the recession by Spain 
to France of the province of Louisiana. Three years 
afterward, having held it just long enough to complete 
the negotiations for its sale, he sold and ceded it to the 
United States. These successive cessions were a part 
of the same design — a purpose well premeditated upon 
his part, not for the purchase-money, but to build up 
a power in North America able to cope with, to curb 
and control that of Great Britain in this quarter of the 
world. Never did subsequent events more fully re- 
alize a purpose thus formed. When, on the eighth of 
January, 181 5, General Jackson and his gallant com- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 373 

rades, in defense of the soil of this new purchase, de- 
feated the trained veterans of WelHngton and drove 
them to their ships, the power of Great Britain did 
suffer a check, long remembered, not yet forgotten. 

Such, at the time of the Louisiana Purchase, was 
the policy of Jefferson and Napoleon — yet more, it 
was the policy of the United States and France. How 
far we have now departed therefrom, and why we 
have turned away from France, our most ancient 
friend and ally in Europe, to court a closer intimacy 
with England, our former enemy, are questions which 
may much concern the student of our foreign relations 
even while we are engaged in celebrating the centen- 
nial of the Louisiana purchase. 

The event itself is well worthy of commemoration. 
The accjuisition of that province made the Mississippi 
an American river; it extended our national bounda- 
ries far toward the Pacific ; it first made manifest our 
place and station as a world power, — and from a world 
power we received it, that of France and Napoleon. 

Thus we have had many momentous transactions 
with the people and rulers of the Latin race, but in 
any consideration of its political genius and capacity 
we must not overlook Italy, the country of its origin. 
For many centuries after the fall of the Roman Em- 
pire, Italy was divided into small kingdoms and prin- 
cipalities. These were rife with local jealousies and 
animosities not to be appeased or pacified. Wars be- 
tween them were of frequent, constant occurrence, 
wars of the most cruel and unsparing violence. It 



374 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

was a state of things worse than ever has been known 
even among the South American repubHcs. Such 
was the condition in the eventful closing years of the 
fifteenth century, that although America was dis- 
covered by one Italian and named from another, Italy 
founded no colony and had no possessions in the New 
World. There was no government in that country 
that had resources adequate for such an enterprise, 
and the New World was to them the same as if Colum- 
bus had never sailed or never returned. This divided 
and distracted condition has continued with some cir- 
cumstances of amelioration, even down to our own 
times. 

I recollect meeting, with some other friends, now 
many years ago, Mr. Robert Dale Owen, of the county 
of Posey in our state, after he had returned from Eu- 
rope, where he had resided for some time as minister 
of the United States at the court of Naples, then one 
of the separate kingdoms of Italy. As Americans 
interested in Italian affairs, then beginning to attract 
notice, we inquired concerning these. He was well 
versed in Italian politics, and as thoroughly acquainted 
with the whole scope of political movements in Europe 
as any diplomat or publicist of that time. He spoke 
in hopeful words of the future of Italy; predicted its 
liberation from foreign oppression and its ultimate 
achievement of unity, peace and independence. The 
wish might have been father to the thought. Mr. 
Owen would have disclaimed neither. He had, as be- 



■ SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 375 

comes an American, an unfaltering, immovable faith 
in human progress. 

This prediction has been since abundantly fulfilled. 
We need not harbor any misgivings of the fortunes 
of these southern republics or their people. Some 
Cavour will appear there as in Italy, some large- 
minded and wise-hearted South American, who will 
know how to unite conflicting interests, to assuage 
local feuds and controversies, and who will lay se- 
curely the foundations, and build thereon, of larger 
nationalities, of free stable unions, and of lasting 
peace. These results, like those in Italy, may appear 
upon the unrolled map of the future in South and 
Central America sooner than we imagine. A survey 
of the political changes that have taken place in the 
world within the last century will justify the asser- 
tion that nothing is now more improbable than that 
which has already occurred. The disturbed condition 
unfortunately now prevailing among the minor repub- 
lics of Latin America should make us more solicitous 
to guard them against foreign invasion upon what- 
ever pretensions. The imperial powers, in the ab- 
sence of our intervention, would much prefer aggres- 
sion in those quarters to an attack upon the Chinese 
Empire, guarded as the latter is by the two oriental 
powers which have the purpose to permit no trespasses 
in that quarter except their own. 

European colonies and dependencies, held in the 
part of this hemisphere south of us, would constitute 



3/6 SKETCHES OF MY OWk TIMES 

a much better vantage-ground for attack upon this 
country and its commerce than present conditions af- 
ford; and this has been no doubt part of the thought 
of our people in the maintenance of the Monroe doc- 
trine as the best means of our own safety and defense. 

When President Monroe sent his celebrated mes- 
sage to Congress upon this subject, the legislature of 
our state was in session. A joint resolution was 
passed approving the doctrines of the message, and 
the governor, William Hendricks, was requested to 
forward copies thereof to our senators and representa- 
tives in Congress and to the president. 

Our general assembly of to-day would have taken 
similar action upon this subject on a like occasion or 
opportunity. Every state in the Union would unite 
in the support of the same time-honored policy. 

These republics of the South have looked somewhat 
askance at our campaign in Asiatic waters, and at the 
very singular alliance or understanding that accom- 
panied it. They have only looked, they have made no 
sign, no official utterance of dissent or protest. They 
still entertain for us those traditional sentiments of 
friendship induced by our early recognition of their 
nationality and independence. They still have the ut- 
most confidence in the great Republic of the North. 

This confidence is not misplaced. The vast and 
free constituencies of these states still adhere to the 
American Compact. If the alternative be presented, 
between maintaining this Compact or the entente cor- 
diale, the people will make a swift decision. They 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 377 

will insist that the observance and enforcement of the 
Monroe doctrine shall have a first place in our foreign 
policy; that the halls and chambers of our national 
Capitol shall still be held in full possession by its first 
great occupant; that they shall be filled with the air 
and breath of liberty as the temple of Solomon was 
filled by the symbol of a greater Presence. 



CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE 

CAMPAIGN OF 1898 ANCIENT WORTHIES OF THE 

HUSTINGS IN INDIANA TILGHMAN A. HOWARD 

HIS CAREER AND CHARACTER 

The most notable feature in the campaign of 1898 
was the reappearance in popular discussion of the 
topic of foreign relations. Although there had been 
during the Civil War a very large correspondence upon 
this subject between the European governments and 
our representatives at those courts involving much 
controversy, yet it was so ably and wisely conducted 
that upon the stump very little reference was made 
thereto. There was a long interval of time and an 
immense change of geographical site involved in this 
reappearance. Formerly we debated before the people 
the relations between the United States, Mexico and 
the sometime republic of Texas, the policy of annexa- 
tion, and the disputed line of the Nueces or the Rio 
Grande; fifty years afterward the scene shifted to the 
Philippines. 

I returned from Washington this year after the ad- 
journment of Congress somewhat worn by the labors 
of the session. Our committee upon foreign relations 
in the earlier days of the war with Spain had held 

378 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 379 

meetings three times a week and sometimes had daily 
sessions. The attendance was close and exacting and, 
with the other more public duties of the Senate, taxed 
even the physical powers heavily. My participa- 
tion in the home canvass was in consequence of this 
somewhat limited. I had not the strength to make 
the extensive tours of twenty or thirty years before, 
but visited and addressed the people in thirty-six 
counties, including such points as Evansville, Laporte, 
Terre Haute and Portland, not omitting Nashville, 
Vevay, Boonville, Madison and Richmond, showing 
that my appointments had been well distributed in the 
state. My canvass closed at Decatur, the county seat 
of Adams, on Saturday before the election in Novem- 
ber. This was my last public address; it was the 
end of a campaign that had extended through a course 
of fifty years, commencing in 1848. 

The public canvasser in such a long tract of time 
acquires a certain intimacy with his audiences as such ; 
this acquaintance is casual but constant, transient yet 
continuous, wholly impersonal but not without in- 
terest. The impression which he forms of his au- 
diences is perhaps more distinct and better defined than 
the conception which the people form of him who 
addresses them in the slight and brief contact incident 
to the relation of hearer and speaker. A meeting in 
fact, as one might be held in fancy, composed of but 
a single person from each of the assemblies addressed 
by me during this period would be considerable in 
number, and would show some singular changes in 



380 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

manners, in costume, even in the terms of colloquial 
intercourse. The briefest abstract of the topics of 
public discussion during the last half-century would 
make a volume, quaint and curious, of almost forgot- 
ten lore. To reverse the process, and instead of dealing 
with what was said by the speaker, to give some ac- 
count of what was said to him by those whom he met 
or with whom he sojourned by the way, would make 
one still larger — not unworthy of attention. What 
has already been written of these recollections may 
interest those of the present, though it is also intended 
for the readers of the future who may wish to know 
something of the men and manners of our state in a 
time, now already become somewhat remote, which 
the passing years are rapidly removing to a yet greater 
distance. 

In my early campaigns aged men were met and 
conversed with who had in >their youth known and 
heard Jonathan Jennings and Harbin H. Moore, who 
had heard the two Nobles, senator and governor, who 
talked in glowing language of the eloquence of George 
H. Proffit and of George G. Dunn. I heard much in 
the same way of Whitcomb, of Oliver H. Smith, of 
Hannegan and Howard. These traditions of our an- 
cient worthies of the stump have not yet ceased, but 
are handed down from one generation to another. 
Some of those traditions, listened to in my first can- 
vass, were heard in the last. One of them often related 
was the account of an adventure of Mr. Howard while 



I 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 381 

engaged many years ago in canvassing northern In- 
diana. 

Tilghman A. Howard was a native of South Caro- 
Hna, whence he removed to Tennessee, and afterward, 
when still quite a young man, to Indiana. The first 
public position he held in our state was that of United 
States district attorney. He was subsequently a 
member of Congress, and a candidate for governor and 
senator. In 1845 he was appointed minister of the 
United States to the republic of Texas, a mission then 
of great importance both to those who sent and those 
who received the envoy. The government detailed 
one of the smaller ships of war then in commission to 
convey him to one of the Texan ports. They sailed 
from New Orleans for their destination, but in cross- 
ing the Gulf a violent hurricane arose, which drove the 
vessel out of its course. They made at last a brief 
landing somewhere upon the coast of Honduras or 
Yucatan; by some casual exposure Mr. Howard was 
attacked with one of the fatal diseases incident to that 
climate, and died while abroad on this mission. His 
remains were brought home to Rockville for burial. 
A large concourse of people from all parts of the 
country attended the funeral ceremonies, uniting to 
pay the last tribute of regret and honor to the illus- 
trious dead. 

The pioneers of northern Indiana many years since 
honored themselves in giving his name to the county 
of their residence; thus his memory has been perpetu- 



382 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

ated in a manirer much beyond that of some of his 
contemporaries that were more fortunate in their po- 
Htical career. He was a very conspicuous pubHc char- 
acter during the time of my youth, and was a personal 
and pohtical friend of General Jackson's, both before 
and after his election to the presidency. Mr. Howard 
was one of those whom our people describe as of a port- 
ly appearance, with a very impressive voice, gesture 
and bearing, much in request as a speaker, and high in 
the regard of members of all parties; he was exceed- 
ingly affable in intercourse with his constituents, but at 
the same time thoroughly independent — a man of rare 
capacity, wisdom and discretion, and of a singular pur- 
ity of life and morals. Even the venial excesses so 
common in the customs of that time, and so often in- 
dulged in by those engaged in public life, he carefully 
avoided. Wholly free from cant, without the slightest 
trace of the formalist or the Pharisee in his demeanor, 
he yet would not in these things conform, but went his 
own way, as he had chosen. Among his asso- 
ciates, the gentlemen of the bar, he took first rank, 
as well on account of his learning and ability as 
by his courteous and kindly manner, specially shown 
to the junior members of the profession. Upon the 
hustings his candor was so perfect, — to use the phrase 
of the people, he was so plain-spoken upon the stump, — 
as sometimes to lose the favor of certain of his hearers 
who would otherwise have been drawn to his support 
by a personality so attractive. Such was the quiet, 
even tenor of his life that he accepted with like equa- 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 383 

nimity success or defeat. Beaten by an adverse ma- 
jority, he still continued his political labors in the 
same spirit, anxious for the welfare of his country- 
men, who, if they did not always heed, were glad at 
any time to hear words of counsel from the lips of this 
great patriot, statesman and publicist. He was in the 
political arena the Bayard of his age — without fear 
as he was without reproach. 

Mr. Howard was once engaged in making the can- 
vass of a district which extended from the county of 
Parke, where he resided, northward to Lake Michi- 
gan. He Had visited the settlements and the few 
scattered hamlets then existing along the Indiana lake- 
shore, and was ready to take his leave and start for 
home. As he was traveling on horseback and alone, his 
friends in parting gave him what they thought were 
very plain directions as to the road he should take lead- 
ing to a ferry on the Kankakee River, which he must 
cross to continue his journey south. But when in his 
course he reached the open prairie region, the cross- 
roads and byways became so numerous and perplexing 
that he lost his way and spent most of the afternoon in 
wandering among the high grass and reeds of the 
marsh, so that nightfall found him totally bewildered. 
Making a halt and looking carefully around, he saw at 
some distance a light burning steadily as though in 
some dwelling place. He rode in the direction of- the 
light until he came to a rather spacious cabin standing 
near the bank of the river. He hailed the inmates, and 
the mistress of the house with a group of half-grown 



384 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

children appeared in answer to the call. He told them 
that he had lost his road on the way to the ferry, and 
asked if he could stay all night. The mistress said he' 
was quite welcome to stay if he could put up with their 
accommodations. He thanked her heartily and dis- 
mounted; one of the boys took the saddle and the 
saddle-bags, another took his horse and fed him, 
hitching him to a willow that grew near the cabin. 

The family were at supper, and a plate was laid for 
the stranger, who, while eating, saw three men come 
to the back door. These held somewhat of a conversa- 
tion in a low tone, which he heard without catching the 
words. One of these, a young man, then came into 
the house and, without noticing the guest, took down 
a rifle, powder-horn and bullet-pouch which hung over 
the mantel-piece, and with these rejoined those out- 
side and all three went away in the dark, seemingly 
toward the river. After supper as Mr. Howard, ac- 
companied by the mother and her boys, went out to 
look after his horse, he said something about having 
it put into the stable for the night. His hostess told 
him they had no stable; that they never stabled their 
own horses, but tethered them and turned them 
out to graze upon the marsh ; that a stranger's horse 
was not treated in that way, for, as she said, there was 
a set of rough, wandering people that roved up and 
down the river after night, who, when they found such 
a likely animal as his was, were very apt to borrow it 
and not bring it back in the morning. She added that 
it was safest to let his horse stay where It was, close 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 385 

to the cabin ; they had an excellent watch-dog that 
would give the alarm upon the approach of a tres- 
passer. 

Her guest was not greatly reassured by these 
words ; he had already begun to entertain some doubts 
as to the character of the place, and thought that he 
might have taken quarters where one in his situation, 
a candidate for public favor, ought not to have sought 
lodging even for a single night. However, he re- 
turned to the house, and upon making a close observa- 
tion of the large room he was in, saw in one corner 
of it a stand with a few books upon it, and stepped 
across in the dim light to look at them. One of them 
was a large family Bible, well cared for though much 
worn by use; another was a little Methodist hymn- 
1)ook in the same condition. In a moment, as he 
afterward told his friends, he felt relieved — at home; 
all his anxiety was gone and he secretly chid 
himself for the unworthy suspicions he had enter- 
tained. When the hour came for retiring, an early 
one, the lady of the house asked him to read a chapter. 
The stand with the book upon it was brought out 
and placed near the lamp. He turned to the chapter 
of St. Luke, containing the story of the Prodigal Son, 
and began reading. He was one of the finest readers 
of his time. Many of those who have spoken of this 
incident would have given something of value to hear 
this reading of the famous parable to his hostess and 
her children sitting round her. We may be certain that 
it was oriven with the same care and reverence, with 



386 SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 

the same touch and tone of pathos that would have been 
used had he been in the presence of the most cultured 
audience in the world. 

When the reading was finished, after a pause of si- 
lence and surprise, one of the boys showed the stranger 
up the step-ladder to the guest-room in the loft. Fa- 
tigued by the adventures of the day, he slept very 
soundly until called for breakfast. He went down to a 
repast fit for a king. Among other viands there were 
fresh venison steaks and fish just caught from the 
river, broiled to a turn and in such quantities as to ap- 
pease the keenest appetite. His welcome was as royal 
as the repast. They had all heard of the reading of last 
night's chapter. The old, old story of the Prodigal had 
become new again; the mother of the household said it 
seemed to her that she had never heard it before. The 
whole family had now assembled, and Mr. Howard, 
during the meal, had a full explanation of some things 
he had observed the evening before. The father, with 
his two grown sons, had spent nearly all night on the 
river, engaged in what they called a fire-hunt. The 
main feature of this sport was a bright blazing fire 
kept burning in the bow of the canoe, while its occu- 
pants, screened by a clump of green branches, sat in 
the shadow. It was a still hunt, the whist game of the 
hunter-fisherman. The fish attracted by the light were 
taken quietly with the gig or spear, and the deer, at- 
tracted in like manner to the riverside, were taken with 
the rifle. The two eyes of a deer, gazing through the 



SKETCHES OF MY OWN TIMES 387 

dark at this floating beacon, made a mark such as no 
sportsman conld miss. 

After the father had given an account of the fire- 
hunt, the guest took the opportunity of telling his 
purpose in visiting that part of the country, stated the 
circumstances of his candidacy, and in his manly, cour- 
teous way solicited their friendly consideration. All 
the family instantly pledged him their support; they 
urged him to stay longer, but other engagements pre- 
vented this. He bade each of them good-by. One of 
the young men rode with him five or six miles through 
the prairie to the ferry, where they parted with many 
mutual good wishes. 

In all the stories of ambition realized there is noth- 
ing more worthy of remembrance than this visit of 
Howard's to the log-cabin on the marsh. 

Many persons have spoken to me of Mr. Howard, 
and all have made mention of the depth and sincerity 
of his religious convictions. In every circumstance of 
life he acted as if he were in the presence and under the 
protection of his Maker — not, as he believed, that gen- 
eral care taken of the young ravens or of the sparrows 
in their fall, but that concern, more immediate, spoken 
of by the Psalmist of the Friends : 

I know not where His islands lift 

Their fronded palms in air, 
I only know I can not drift 

Beyond His love and care. 



